Jenny Rowe was born on 2 October 1955, and educated at Sir James Smith's School, Camelford.[1] She graduated from King's College London in 1977 with a BA (Hons) in History, and studied at the College of Law, Lancaster Gate, and Birkbeck College, where she gained an MSc in Policy Administration in 1984.[1]
Civil service
Rowe joined the civil service shortly after graduating from Birkbeck, and held a number of posts in the Lord Chancellor's Department.[2] From 1990 to 1993, Rowe was Principal Private Secretary to the Lord Chancellor,[1] and from 1993 to 1995, was Principal Establishment and Finance Officer at the Serious Fraud Office.[3] She returned to the Lord Chancellor's Department in 1995 as Head of Criminal Policy, and was re-appointed Principal Private Secretary to the Lord Chancellor in 1997. In 1999, she became Director of Corporate Services, and in 2002, Director of Finance and Corporate Affairs. She served as Secretary to the Butterfield Review of Criminal Investigations and Prosecutions conducted by HM Customs and Excise in 2003. In 2004, she was appointed Director of Policy Administration at the Attorney General's Office. In January 2008, the Lord Chancellor, Jack Straw, announced Rowe's appointment as the first chief executive of the new Supreme Court of the United Kingdom, which began operation in October 2009.[4] Rowe retired in October 2015 and was succeeded by Mark Ormerod as chief executive of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom.[5]
