Gus O'Donnell
From Biocrawler, the free encyclopedia.
Sir Gus O'Donnell KCB (born 1955) is a high-ranking British civil servant, the Permanent Secretary of the Treasury in the British Civil Service.
O'Donnell served as a lecturer for Glasgow University in the Political Economy Department from 1975 until 1979, when he joined the Treasury as an economist. In 1985 he then joined the British Embassy in Washington, serving as the First Secretary of the Economics division for four years. Then, in 1989, O'Donnell became Press Secretary for the Chancellor of the Exchequer before transferring next door to serve as Press Secretary to the Prime Minister from 1990 to 1994.
From 1997 to 1998, O'Donnell was the United Kingdom's Executive Director to both the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, again in Washington, before returning to the Treasury to serve as both Director of Macroeconomic Policy and Prospects and also Head of the Government Economics Service, with overall responsibility for the professional economists in Her Majesty's Government. A year later, in 1999, he was appointed Managing Director of Macroeconomic Policy and International Finance, with responsiblity for fiscal policy, international development, and European Union economic and monetary union.
In 2002, O'Donnell took over from Sir Andrew Turnbull as Permanent Secretary the Treasury when Sir Andrew became Cabinet Secretary; three years later, on 15 June, 2005, it was announced that Sir Gus would again replace Sir Andrew, this time as Cabinet Secretary, on the latter's retirment at the end of the coming Summer.
The youngest of five children, O'Donnell attended Warwick University, where he read economics. He was knighted as a Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath in the Queen's Birthday Honours in June 2005. He is married, with one daughter.
External links
- The Guardian article on O'Donnell becoming Cabinet Secretary (http://politics.guardian.co.uk/whitehall/story/0,9061,1507090,00.html)
- BBC News background profile article on O'Donnell on his attaining Permanent Secretaryship (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/1741979.stm)
- BBC News background profile article on his attaining Cabinet Secretaryship (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/4096328.stm)
- Warwick Magazine interview with O'Donnell (http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/about/warwickmagazine05/odonnell/)
