Owen Kelly

Biography

wen Kelly, OBE, is a part-time Doctoral Researcher in the Department of Philosophy at Edinburgh University, examining how ancient ethical ideas can be applied to modern business practice.He also works at the University of Edinburgh Business School as Director of Engagement; and at Edinburgh Napier University, where he is a lecturer in financial services. He has extensive experience of working in government and in the private sector. From 2008 to 2016 he was Chief Executive of Scottish Financial Enterprise, the representative body for Scotland's financial services industry. During his term of office, he dealt with the financial crisis and the referendum on Scottish independence, both of which raised large and important questions for the industry. He continues to contributed regularly to public debate on many aspects of economics and politics. Before working for the financial services industry, he worked for 20 years as a civil servant in the UK and Scottish Governments. When he left in 2008, he was Director of Communications and International at the Scottish Government. He served as Principal Private Secretary to the First Minister of Scotland and as Private Secretary to a UK government Minister. His policy specialisms were EU and international affairs and communications. He holds an honours degree in Chinese (1986) and a Diploma in Social and Public Policy (1998), both from the University of Edinburgh. He is a trustee of the David Hume Institute, the Historic Scotland Foundation, the McConnell International Foundation and Citizens' Advice Edinburgh. He is an Honorary Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Bankers. He was awarded an OBE (Officer of the British Empire) in the New Year's Honours List in 2014.

Research Interest

Morality in business, especially financial services; morality in economics; Plato, Aristole, Rawls, Nozick and MacIntyre.