Gavin Anderson has been Director of the British Council Shanghai and Consul (Cultural and Education) of the British Consulate General Shanghai since September 2007.

Gavin joined the British Council in 1995 as Liaison Officer in Hokkaido, Japan, where he was manager of the British Council regional office in northern Japan. He was responsible for education promotion, science, arts and representational activity.

In 2000 Gavin took up the position of Deputy Regional Director, Middle East, Near East & North Africa. He was based in London and supported the Regional Directors for the two regions covering the Arab World, Israel & Iran. Subsequently, Gavin became Deputy Director, British Council Korea (2004-2007).

Before his career with the British Council, Gavin worked for Andersen Consulting (now Accenture) where he was responsible for consultancy work in financial services.

Gavin read Economics at the University of Surrey (1985-1989). In 1993, he won the Daiwa Anglo-Japanese Foundation Scholarship, a two-year scholarship for intensive Japanese language study in London and Tokyo.