Andrew Gowers was appointed editor

Editing

Editing is the process of selecting and preparing written, visual, audible, and film media used to convey information through the processes of correction, condensation, organization, and other modifications performed with an intention of producing a correct, consistent, accurate, and complete...

 of the Financial Times

Financial Times

The Financial Times is an international business newspaper. It is a morning daily newspaper published in London and printed in 24 cities around the world. Its primary rival is the Wall Street Journal, published in New York City....

in October 2001. He resigned from this post in November 2005 citing "strategic differences", following the FT losing a libel case brought by brokerage firm Collins Stewart Tullett Plc.

Education

Gowers was educated at the Trinity School of John Whitgift

Trinity School of John Whitgift

The Trinity School of John Whitgift, usually referred to as Trinity School, is a British independent boys' day school with a co-educational Sixth Form, located in Shirley Park, Croydon. The current building was constructed in 1965 on the site of the former Shirley Hotel...

, an independent school

Independent school

An independent school is a school that is independent in its finances and governance; it is not dependent upon national or local government for financing its operations, nor reliant on taxpayer contributions, and is instead funded by a combination of tuition charges, gifts, and in some cases the...

 for boys in Shirley

Shirley, London

Shirley is a place in the London Borough of Croydon, England. It is a suburban development situated 10 miles south south-east of Charing Cross.-Description:...

 in the London Borough of Croydon

London Borough of Croydon

The London Borough of Croydon is a London borough in South London, England and is part of Outer London. It covers an area of and is the largest London borough by population. It is the southernmost borough of London. At its centre is the historic town of Croydon from which the borough takes its name...

, followed by the University of Cambridge

University of Cambridge

The University of Cambridge is a public research university located in Cambridge, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest university in both the United Kingdom and the English-speaking world , and the seventh-oldest globally...

.

Gowers Review of Intellectual Property

On Friday, 2 December 2005, he was commissioned by Gordon Brown

Gordon Brown

James Gordon Brown is a British Labour Party politician who was the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Labour Party from 2007 until 2010. He previously served as Chancellor of the Exchequer in the Labour Government from 1997 to 2007...

 to lead an independent review of intellectual property

Intellectual property

Intellectual property is a term referring to a number of distinct types of creations of the mind for which a set of exclusive rights are recognized—and the corresponding fields of law...

 rights in the UK, known as the Gowers Review of Intellectual Property

Gowers Review of Intellectual Property

The Gowers Review of Intellectual Property was an independent review of UK intellectual property focusing on UK copyright law that was published in December 2006. The then Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown commissioned Andrew Gowers to lead the review in December 2005. The Review was...

. Amongst other things, this review was set up to consider the implications of extending the copyright on sound recordings in the UK

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

.

Lehman Brothers

In June 2006 Gowers joined Lehman Brothers

Lehman Brothers

Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. was a global financial services firm. Before declaring bankruptcy in 2008, Lehman was the fourth largest investment bank in the USA , doing business in investment banking, equity and fixed-income sales and trading Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. (former NYSE ticker...

 in London as head of corporate communications, and stayed until the late 2008 collapse of the firm

Bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers

Lehman Brothers filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on September 15, 2008. The bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers remains the largest bankruptcy filing in U.S...

 — one of the key events of the global financial crisis of 2008. In December 2008, The Times

The Times

The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...

published his account of this period, in which he describes Lehman CEO Richard Fuld as "almost unbearably intense" and "insulated from the day-to-day realities of the firm".

BP

In Autumn 2009, Gowers joined BP as head of media relations, replacing his predecessor Roddy Kennedy. He continues to hold the position and was responsible for handling the oil company's media response to the April 20, 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil disaster.