Richard Bowker (British businessman)

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Steven Richard Bowker CBE (born 23 April 1966, Oldham) [1] is former chairman and chief executive of the Strategic Rail Authority, a former chief executive of National Express and Etihad Railway, and also a former chairman of UK Athletics and independent director of the English Football League.

Contents

Career

Bowker was born in Oldham in 1966. He was the son of Roger Bowker (b. 1941), who would go on to have a long career as a senior manager in the bus industry, latterly working for Stagecoach Group and Brian Souter. [2] [3] Bowker attended Queen Elizabeth's Grammar School, Blackburn, read economics at Leicester University, and played as a professional session pianist for a year. [4]

In 1989 he joined the London Underground as a graduate finance trainee, where he qualified as a chartered management accountant. In the course of this work, he was credited with the launch of a new leasing system for trains in 1997. [5] Bowker was appointed co-chairman of Virgin Rail Group in 1999 and commercial director of the Virgin Group in 2000. He also founded the transport consultancy Quasar Associates.

In 2001 he was appointed chairman and chief executive of the Strategic Rail Authority. [4] While in this role he was made a CBE in the 2004 New Year's Honours List. [6] In 2006, he was appointed chief executive of National Express Group. [7] [8] From 2009 to 2012 he acted as chief executive of Etihad Railway in the United Arab Emirates. [9] [10]

In 2012 he was appointed as the second ever independent non-executive director of the English Football League. [11] In 2017 he replaced Ed Warner as chairman of UK Athletics. [12] Less than two years later he resigned ahead of a vote of no confidence. [13]

He has also served as a non-executive director of British Waterways [14] and of the London Marathon. [12]

Since 2023 Bowker has co-presented Green Signals, a regular podcast discussing current events in the UK rail sector, together with Nigel Harris, former managing editor of the UK industry magazine RAIL. [15]

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References

  1. ↑ Ben Webster, "If rail lines must close, so be it", The Times , 3 June 2003
  2. ↑ A Life in Transport: Buses, trains and trams - Roger Bowker, Green Signals channel, YouTube, 26 December 2024. Accessed 2025-01-23
  3. ↑ Roger William Bowker appointments, Companies House. Accessed 2025-01-23
  4. 1 2 "Don't rail saviours look young nowadays?". The Observer . London. 28 October 2001.
  5. ↑ "Profile: Richard Bowker". BBC News. 18 January 2004.
  6. ↑ Reece, Damian (31 December 2004). "Knighthoods go to CBI's Digby Jones and OFT's John Vickers". The Independent. London. Archived from the original on 27 August 2013.
  7. ↑ David Teather, Profile: Richard Bowker, National Express, The Guardian , 1 July 2009
  8. ↑ Christian Wolmar, Bowker jumps ship after another wrecking operation, TSSA Journal, 10 August 2009
  9. ↑ "Union Railway in UAE marks the beginning of an era of long-term investment: Al Nowais UAE - The Official Web Site - News" . Retrieved 11 September 2010.
  10. ↑ "Richard Bowker Quits Etihad Rail: International Railway Journal". 10 April 2012. Retrieved 1 January 2018.
  11. ↑ "Richard Bowker CBE: English Football League" . Retrieved 1 January 2018.
  12. 1 2 "Bowker takes over from Warner as chairman of UK Athletics two months early" . Retrieved 1 January 2018.
  13. ↑ "Calls for 'warts and all' examination into UK Athletics after chairman goes". The Guardian . 16 January 2019. Archived from the original on 16 January 2019.
  14. ↑ 11646_NX
  15. ↑ Green Signals Podcast, YouTube channel. Accessed 2025-01-23


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