Sir John Menzies Low, CBE, CEng, FRSA (born 1 July 1953) is an international civil society leader, with a commercial background in science, technology and engineering.[1] From 2007 to 2020, he was group chief executive of the Charities Aid Foundation (CAF). He was previously the chief executive of the Royal National Institute for Deaf People (RNID). Since 2022, John has been Chair of JTL, the leading training provider for the Building Services Engineering sector. [2]
His early commercial career was in research and development with specialist engineering and technology businesses. In 1984 he was appointed Technical Director at William McGeoch & Co, before taking up the role of R&D Director at Sortex Ltd in 1988,[9] a specialist division within the Swiss technology group Bühler AG. Sortex was an innovator in machine vision and automated sorting systems. Bühler’s website states, “Two billion people each day enjoy foods produced on Bühler equipment.”[10]
After 20 years in the technology industry, Low moved to the voluntary sector in 1999, initially as Executive Director of Research at the Royal National Institute for Deaf People (RNID),[11] appointed Chief Executive in 2002.[12] RNID is the largest charity for the UK’s 9 million deaf and hard of hearing people.
In 2007 Low was appointed group Chief Executive of the Charities Aid Foundation (CAF).[13] In notes published by the Cabinet Office to accompany his Knighthood in 2017, Low is credited as having, “overseen a significant increase in the funds raised from donors and distributed to charities; developed a vehicle to provide charities with early stage capital; restructured and recapitalised the Charity Bank; created an extensive research wing; and made the Foundation the core co-ordinating voice for the charity sector as a whole.”[14][15] He left CAF and retired from executive management in 2020.
He is currently Chair of the Potanin Foundation.[21] and Secretary of Hertford Baptist Church.[22] From 2018 to 2022 Chair of the BBC Appeals Advisory Committee,[23] And most recently, Chair of JTL, the UK's leading training provider of Electrical and Plumbing & Heating apprenticeships.
^Low, John (1977). "Electronic Inhibition of Stammer". Television (Royal Television Society Magazine). 16: 19–27.
^Low, John M; Lindsay, Duncan D (1979). "A Body-Worn Delayed Auditory Feedback Fluency Aid for Stammers". Journal of Biomedical Engineering. 1 [4] (4): 235–239. doi:10.1016/0141-5425(79)90157-2. PMID395367.
^Downie, A W; Low, J M; Lindsay, D D (1981). "Speech Disorder in Parkinson". British Journal of Disorders of Communication. 16 [2] (2): 135–139. doi:10.3109/13682828109011394. PMID7326211.
^Low, John; Blois, Keith (2002). "The evolution of generic brands in industrial markets: the challenges to owners of brand equity". Industrial Marketing Management. 31 [5] (5): 385–392. doi:10.1016/S0019-8501(00)00131-0.