Investment Association names Ex-Treasury Director as Chief

The Investment Association, based in London, United Kingdom, has appointed John Owen as its chief executive, bringing a senior policy figure from government into one of the City’s largest trade bodies.

Owen joins from EY, where he was a partner advising on regulatory strategy. He spent twenty years in the civil service, latterly as Director for Financial Services at HM Treasury from 2022 to 2025. He succeeds Chris Cummings, who steps down after a decade in the role.

The association represents firms managing around ten trillion pounds in assets. The board said it was drawn to Owen’s grasp of the policy environment and his focus on delivery in complex settings.

The cross-sector read is the talent pipeline. A growing number of membership bodies now recruit chief executives straight from senior government and regulatory posts rather than from within their own sector, betting that policy fluency counts for as much as industry pedigree.