Francesca Osowska OBE

Biography

Francesca was educated in Cumbria and at Cambridge University where she obtained an MA in economics. She also received an MA in European Economics from the College of Europe in Bruges.

Having joined the civil service as an economist in 1993, her first posting was in the Employment Department in Sheffield. After brief stints in London and Brussels, Francesca moved to Edinburgh in 1997 as a government economist with the then Scottish Office. In 1998 Francesca joined the Scottish Office education department before going on to hold posts in the education and justice departments of the Scottish Executive and was appointed Head of Sport at the Scottish Executive / Government.

Between 2007 and 2009, Francesca was Principal Private Secretary to the First Minister before being appointed, in December 2009, as Director for Culture, External Affairs and Tourism. In January 2010, she was appointed Director for Housing, Regeneration and the Commonwealth Games in the Scottish Government and subsequently moved to the post of Director for the Commonwealth Games and Sport in January 2013. Francesca took up her post as Director for the Scotland Office in the UK Government in January 2015.

Francesca was awarded an OBE for services to Government and the Commonwealth Games in the Queen’s New Year’s Honours in January 2015.