Bidesh Sarkar, Chief Financial Officer

Bidesh Sarkar joined the British Council in 2007 as Chief Financial Officer. His portfolio of responsibilities covers Finance, Information Systems, Estates, Procurement, Risk Management and Information & Knowledge Management. He is Chair of BC Management Services Private Limited, a British Council subsidiary set up in India to operate the British Council shared services centre in Noida, India. He is also a Board Director of the British Council holding company, BC Holdings (United Kingdom) Limited.

Bidesh has previously worked in both the commercial and not-for-profit sectors. He began his career in accounting practice before joining Kimberly-Clark Corporation where he progressed to finance director of a European business unit. Prior to joining the British Council, he was the finance director at PLAN, an international development organisation. Bidesh is used to working in complex organisations, in an international setting. He has strong change management experience and is able to work across geographical and functional boundaries.

Bidesh is a chartered accountant, has an MBA from INSEAD and is a graduate in Mathematics and Economics from the University of Sussex. He is married with two sons and a daughter. In his spare time he is a governor at his children’s primary school and campaigns for environmentally sustainable waste management in London.