Born in New York City, Lowney attended Regis High School, a Jesuit institution in Manhattan, and then entered a Jesuit seminary. He completed a B.A. in History and an M.A. in Philosophy at Fordham University and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. He left the Jesuit seminary in 1983 and worked at JP Morgan from 1983 to 2001. At Morgan, he was an investment banker to Fortune 1000 companies and, later, a managing director in Tokyo and Singapore, where he served on Morgan's Asia-Pacific management committee. Later, as a managing director in London, he served on Morgan's Europe, Mideast, and Africa management committee. After leaving Morgan in 2001, Lowney authored six books and co-authored two more. He has delivered talks and conferences on leadership, decision-making, and business ethics throughout the U.S. and in Spain, France, Australia, Argentina, Uruguay, Colombia, Indonesia, and many other countries. He is vice chair of the Board of CommonSpirit Health, the nation's largest nonprofit health system by revenue.
Publications
Lowney is the author of:
Heroic Leadership: Best Practices from a 450-Year-Old Company that Changed the World ; number-one ranked bestseller of the CBPA and has been translated into eleven languages. The book was named to the Reading List of the Commandant of the U.S. Marine Corps.
A Vanished World: Muslims, Christians, and Jews in Medieval Spain ; nominated for La Corónica award.
Everyone Leads: How to Revitalize the Catholic Church The book won 2nd place in its category in the 2018 Catholic Press Association Awards
Make Today Matter: 10 Habits for a Better Life won a 2018 Independent Press Award as a Distinguished Favorite in the Inspiration category and a 2019 Independent Press Award for Self-Help: Spiritual. The book also won a Gold Medal in the 2019 Illumination Awards and Make Today Matter is an Award-Winning Finalist in the Self-Help: Motivational category of the 2019 International Book Awards.
Guide to the Camino Ignaciano, co-authored with Jose Luis Iriberri, S.J.
On the Ignatian Way, co-authored with Jose Luis Iriberri, S.J.
Lowney founded Pilgrimage for Our Children's Future, which funds education and healthcare projects in the developing world. He helped launch Jesuit Commons-Higher Education at the Margins, which offers university-level education in refugee camps. He conceived and co-founded Contemplative Leaders in Action, a young adult leadership formation program active in seven cities.