Sir Stephen Lovegrove has joined Lazard as a senior advisor serving clients in the U.K. financial advisory and geopolitical advisory businesses. He is based in London.

“We are pleased to welcome Sir Stephen to Lazard. He brings a deeply informed perspective on business and geopolitical topics developed over decades of experience, and his insight into the energy transition will be of particular interest to our European clients,” Peter Orszag, CEO of financial advisory and Lazard CEO-elect, said.

“Sir Stephen brings wide-ranging expertise in energy security, financial services and European trade relations to our clients. His extensive strategic knowledge and geopolitical insight will help our clients to evaluate critical economic and market implications of fast- changing commercial and policy issues globally,” Cyrus Kapadia, CEO of Lazard U.K. Financial Advisory, said.

Sir Stephen Lovegrove was the U.K. government’s National Security Advisor with oversight of the U.K.’s security, defense and intelligence capabilities on behalf of the Prime Minister from March 2021 through September 2022, having previously served as the permanent secretary of the Ministry of Defense from 2016 to 2021. 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 U.K.’s contract-for-difference regime for renewables financing, and head of the government’s shareholder executive (now U.K. Government Investments). He was the government’s representative on the board of the London organizing 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.