Rachel Lomax

Janis Rachel Lomax (born 15 July 1945 in Swansea, Wales) is a British economist, banker, and former government official who served as Deputy Governor of the Bank of England, sitting on the Monetary Policy Committee from 1 July 2003 to 30 June 2008.^[1]

Early life

After attending Rossall Preparatory School and Cheltenham Ladies' College, Lomax graduated from Girton College, Cambridge University, with an MA in 1966, and obtained an MSc in economics from the London School of Economics in 1968.

Career

After graduating from LSE in 1968, she joined HM Treasury, where she worked on a range of macroeconomic, monetary, and financial issues. She was Principal Private Secretary to the Chancellor of the Exchequer Nigel Lawson in the mid-1980s and as his Deputy Chief Economic Adviser in the early 1990s. In 1994 she was head of the Economic and Domestic Secretariat at the Cabinet Office.

From 1995-96, she was a vice president and chief of staff to the World Bank president. From 1996 to 1999, she worked at the Welsh Office, where she oversaw the setting up of the National Assembly for Wales. Afterwards, from 1999 to 2002, Lomax was permanent secretary of the Department for Work and Pensions (formerly the Department of Social Security). Then Lomax served as Permanent Secretary at the Department for Transport, having moved there with her Secretary of State Alistair Darling when prime minister Tony Blair reshuffled his cabinet following the resignation—in highly charged and controversial circumstances—of the Secretary of State for Transport Stephen Byers.

From 2003 to 2008 she was a deputy governor at the Bank of England, serving on its Monetary Policy Committee, where she was "one of the more moderate, centrist figures".^[2]

She left "just before the collpase of Lehman Brothers in 2008"^[3] reportedly to "pursue other interests".^[2]

In December 2008, she became an independent non-executive director of HSBC Holdings,^[4] where she is also a member of the audit and risk committees.^[5] In December 2010 she joined BAA (now Heathrow Airport Holdings) as a non-executive director.

Personal life

Lomax is on the Board of the Royal National Theatre and of De Montfort University in Leicester. In June 2007 she received an honorary degree from the University of Glasgow.

She married Michael Acworth Lomax in 1967; they divorced in 1990. The couple has two sons.

References

1. "Rachel Lomax". Bank of England. Archived from the original on March 12, 2008. Retrieved 3 April 2010.
2. Foxwell, Andrew (19 May 2008). "Rachel Lomax to leave Bank of England, sparking Treasury row". The Telegraph. Retrieved 20 February 2016.
3. "Rachel Lomax says 'no' to Bank of England boss post". BBC News. 18 September 2012. Retrieved 20 February 2016.
4. Janis Rachel Lomax works at HSBC HOLDINGS PLC since 1 December 2008, currently as a Director, cbetta.com; accessed 20 February 2016.
5. "About Rachel Lomax". HSBC. Retrieved 20 February 2016.

External links

• Tel article September 25 2004
• Guardian article November 22 2003