Alex Chisholm
 Alex Chisholm    (civil servant) | |
|---|---|
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| Born | 2 January 1968 |
| Alma mater | Merton College (Oxford), INSEAD |
| Member of | Königswinter |
Alex Chisholm (born 2 January 1968) is a British civil servant, who has was Cabinet Office Permanent Secretary and the chief operating officer of the United Kingdom's Civil Service since April 2020.[1]
He was previously the permanent secretary at the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) from September 2016 to April 2020 and permanent secretary at the Department for Energy and Climate Change (DECC) during 2016.[2] Chisholm was previously the chief executive of the United Kingdom's Competition and Markets Authority and chair of the Irish Commission for Communications Regulation, and has held senior positions in the media, technology and e-commerce industries.
Education
Alex Chisholm was born on 2 January 1968 in London to parents Ian Duncan Chisholm and Annabel Chisholm. His father was a consultant psychiatrist and his mother was a daughter of James Bryan George Hennessy, 2nd Baron Windlesham. He was educated at Downside School before studying history at Merton College (Oxford) and a Master of Business Administration degree at INSEAD.
Civil servant
Chisholm began work as a civil servant in 1990, working at the Department of Trade and Industry and Office of Fair Trading (OFT) until 1997. He specialised in competition policy and the media, communications and financial services sectors.
He then worked for three years for Pearson plc and the Financial Times, before spending some years working for technology companies, eCountries Inc and Ecceleration Ltd. He also founded ran Heritage Bulbs, a company specialising in the provision of rare and historic bulbs.
In 2007, Alex Chisholm was appointed as a commissioner of the Commission for Communications Regulation in Ireland, becoming its chair in February 2010. He left the role to become the first chief executive of the Competition and Markets Authority in the United Kingdom, which was formally launched on 1 October 2013 and became fully operational on 1 April 2014. The CMA brought together the most of the responsibilities of the former OFT and the former Competition Commission. Chisholm, after taking up his post, was responsible for merging these two bodies and streamlining their operations.
Permanent secretary roles
Chisholm was appointed as permanent secretary to the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) in 2016, and continued as permanent secretary for the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) after it was created nine days later in September 2016 by merging DECC and the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills.
Civil service unions wrote to him in 2018 about the conduct of Claire Perry O'Neill, a minister in the BEIS who had been accused of swearing and screaming at civil servants.[3]
In April 2020 Alex Chisholm was appointed as Civil Service Chief Operating Officer and Cabinet Office Permanent Secretary, succeeding John Manzoni who had been chief executive of the civil service and Cabinet Office Permanent Secretary. The role, as the civil service's "second in command", includes leading reform of the civil service and advising on the COVID-19 pandemic.[4]
Personal life
Alex Chisholm married Eliza Pakenham, daughter of the historian, Thomas Pakenham and granddaughter of Frank Pakenham, 7th Earl of Longford, in 1993. They have three sons and live in London. He has been a trustee of Breadline Africa, an international charity, since 2003, and was its deputy chair.
References
- ↑ "Chief Operating Officer for the Civil Service and Permanent Secretary (Cabinet Office) Alex Chisholm"
- ↑ "BEIS perm sec responds after staff raise concerns over new department's identity"
- ↑ "Stop Whitehall bullying, civil service unions tell ministers"
- ↑ "Alex Chisholm appointed to oversee civil service reforms"
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