Then and now: Suzanne Lowe

In a new feature for Bdaily, Suzanne Lowe, Air Products’ vice president and general manager for the UK, Ireland, Israel and Italy, reflects on her career, from her first role to the present day, highlighting the lessons she has learned from her personal and professional evolution. 

What does your role entail?

I’m privileged to be vice president and general manager for the UK, Ireland, Israel and Italy for Air Products, a world leader in industrial gases. 

Along with serving more than 40,000 customers via our 70 production facilities in the UK and Ireland, we’re committed to helping drive sustainable change at our client businesses to generate a cleaner future.

My role spans customers, employees, communities and shareholders. 

While strategy and operations are at the core, people remain at the heart of everything we do. 

Employees are our most valuable asset. 

Ensuring they have the right support to do their work, and deliver their very best, is important to me – this enables us to serve stakeholders better. 

No two days are ever the same. 

One day, I might be sitting in a strategic alliance forum influencing government policies and the next, I could be on site talking to drivers and bay operators. 

It’s about wearing different hats with equal ease – whether it’s discussing strategic issues or being in full PPE.

Did you always want to work in the industrial gases industry? Or did you have other ambitions when you were growing up?

My ambition as a child was to travel.

I wanted to be an air hostess – interestingly, I never saw myself as a pilot (hopefully, that conversation has changed now).

I also considered being a policewoman; travelling and having a positive impact on my environment drove me, even at that young age. 

Growing up, I was surrounded by traditional male and female roles, and I certainly didn’t want that for myself.

And I didn’t want to be told what I could or could not do. 

Engineering felt like a way to break free from expectations. 

I was all up for entering the industry via an apprenticeship, but my parents encouraged me to do it with a degree in the bag, and I decided to read physics at University of Liverpool.

Air Products had a culture that stood out as more inclusive compared to other major companies in the UK. 

It was about exploration, using my degree in a way I hadn’t anticipated, in a sector that was new to me. 

The role was very diverse even then, and it’s the diversity that drew me in.  

What was your first job – and did you enjoy it? 

It was in a greeting card shop, earning 50 pence an hour. 

I was just 14, working next to an off-licence, and it was my first taste of independence. 

I took real pride in making sure the shop looked tidy and inviting.

One day, the owner asked me to change the window display.

I didn’t think I was creative, but I gave it a go and I enjoyed the ownership that came with it.  

It taught me about being open to challenges and trusting my ability to do a great job, not to mention the importance of presentation and customer service. 

Later, I worked in a men’s shoe shop for £1 an hour, which was as much about selling as it was about the psychology of selling.

It was all very good learning.  

Were there any mentors or individuals that helped shape your career? And are you still applying lessons you learned then to your workforce of today?

People who supported me – and even those who doubted me – have shaped my career.  

Early on, some people expected less of me because I was a woman, and that made me even more determined to prove them wrong.

When I was expecting my first child, the reactions from different managers were revealing. 

Some saw it as a setback, but one manager’s response stood out – he won my trust by supporting me, rather than seeing it as an obstacle. 

That shaped how I lead today.

From the beginning, there were those who trusted my capability and threw me in at the deep end. 

Those jobs challenged me, and that built my character. 

As you progress, you learn to trust your peers and build each other up. 

Sometimes, the best mentors aren’t the ones formally assigned to you, they’re the colleagues you work with and the people who freely share their knowledge with you.

What attracted you to the industrial gases sector?

The sheer diversity of what we do. 

From the fizz in your soft drink or the foam on your beer, to the helium in a balloon or the nitrogen to freeze your burger, there’s a high chance those gases came from Air Products. 

Industrial gases touch our lives every day, and I find that both unique and amazing. 

We support the life critical, such as the high-grade oxygen we supply to hospitals, and the modified atmospheres that keep our food fresh for longer. 

We’re also at the heart of the decarbonisation agenda, using alternative fuels to help industry and transport decarbonise.

The sheer breadth of the sectors we support, including heavy industry (refineries, glass, metals, etc), automotive, healthcare, and food and leisure is unparalleled. 

Our gases are helping to develop future processes, drive sustainability and support innovation across these industries.

This is exciting, and a huge opportunity as well as a significant responsibility. 

That’s what drives me every day. 

How do you feel you’ve changed as a person over the years? Have career roles brought new dimensions to your personality?

With experience comes confidence. 

Over time, you learn to trust yourself more, to make difficult decisions sooner rather than later. 

Leadership isn’t just about stepping in; it’s also about knowing when to step back and let people do their jobs.

Supporting my colleagues do their best is a part of my job that I love. 

I’ve also learned that humility is important.

Being humble means recognising others’ expertise, but it doesn’t mean doubting yourself. 

As my role has grown, so has my understanding of when to lead from the front and when to empower others.

You’ve seen many changes to the employment world across your career – how do you see the workplace evolving in years to come?

There are clues all around us. 

The next generation values work/life balance more; they want to work to live, not live to work. 

We have to recognise and embrace those values.

Technology, artificial intelligence and automation will play a huge role, but so will fundamental skills.

Recent high apprenticeship drop-out rates – at 47 per cent, for example – are concerning, especially for STEM skill industries desperately seeking new talent. 

Employers must do more to improve the quality of courses being offered and make sure training translates to real jobs in the end. 

The key will be making jobs feel meaningful and sustainable.

We need to bridge the gap between the jobs available and what people actually want to do. 

If we can make careers feel alive, relevant and impactful, we’ll have a workforce that’s not just present but passionate too.

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