Mark Stephens has been the British Council’s Director, Cultural Engagement, since April 2019, responsible for the organisation’s global programmes and partnerships work in arts and culture, education, English and School education, Research and Insight. Mark is a member of the British Council’s Senior Leadership Team and is also the organisation’s Disability Champion.
Mark has worked across the British Council’s global network spending 20 years overseas since 1999 in a number of leadership roles. From 2015 he was the British Council’s Regional Director for South Asia, responsible for six countries including Afghanistan, Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Nepal and Sri Lanka and was based in Delhi. Mark’s other leadership roles for the British Council have included Country Director in Egypt, Deputy Director in Pakistan and Romania. Between 1999 and 2005 Mark was based in Jakarta running the British Council’s programmes across Indonesia. Before that he was responsible for the organisation’s partnerships and contracts works across Latin America and the Caribbean, South and Southeast Asia.