Stephen Lovegrove

Sir Stephen Lovegrove, GCMG, KCB is a Senior Adviser for Lazard’s Geopolitical Advisory and UK Financial Advisory businesses.

Sir Stephen was the UK Government’s National Security Advisor with oversight of the UK’s security, defense and intelligence capabilities on behalf of Prime Minister Boris Johnson from March 2021 through September 2022. He previously served as the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Defence from 2016 to 2021, advising Prime Ministers David Cameron, Theresa May, and Boris Johnson.

He has held a number of senior roles across Whitehall, including Permanent Secretary for the Department for Energy and Climate Change where he oversaw the introduction of the UK’s contract-for-difference regime for renewables financing, and Head of the government’s Shareholder Executive (now UK Government Investments). He was the government's representative on the Board of the London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games for seven years. He joined the civil service in 2004 after a career in investment banking with Morgan Grenfell and Deutsche Bank.

Sir Stephen Lovegrove is currently a Distinguished Visiting Fellow at Columbia University where he focuses on the interface between energy and national security, and is a Chair of Rolls-Royce SMR and a non-executive director on the board of The Wellcome Trust.

Sir Lovegrove was appointed Companion of the Order of the Bath (CB) in the 2013 New Year Honours, Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath (KCB) in the 2019 Birthday Honours, and Knight Grand Cross of the Order of St Michael and St George (GCMG) in the 2024 New Year Honours for services to national security. He is an Honorary Fellow of Corpus Christi College, Oxford, where he was awarded a first-class degree in English.