Sir Philip Lowe was born in Leeds in 1947. He read Politics, Philosophy and Economics at St John's College, Oxford and has an M.Sc. from London Business School. Following a period in manufacturing industry, he joined the European Commission in 1973 and initially worked on the restructuring and regeneration of coal and steel areas. He later held a range of senior posts as Chef de cabinet to two European Commissioners and as Director in the fields of regional and rural development, rural development, competition, transport and administration. In 1997 he was appointed Director-General of Development and was Chief negotiator for the EU-South Africa and Cotonou Trade and Cooperation Agreements. From September 2002 he was Director-General of Competition until early 2010 when he became Director-General for Energy. On retirement from the European Commission on 1st January 2014 until 2016, he served as a non-executive director of the UK Competition and Markets Authority. He is at present a senior adviser to FTI Consulting in London and Brussels. He is Chair of the Florence University Institute Competition Law Workshop, and Chair of the World Energy Council’s Trilemma Project.