SpecialityDirector Global Talent & Development, British Council

Louisa Bench is Director Global Talent & Development for the British Council where she is responsible for strategic leadership of talent management and succession planning, performance management and learning and development. Louisa joined the British council in 2015 as Regional HR Director for East Asia, based in Hong Kong and moved into her current role in 2018. Before joining the British Council Louisa held regional and global HR leadership roles with a number of organisations including News Corp, Turner Broadcasting, Sky and Kingfisher. Throughout her career she has moved between HR business partnering and centre of expertise roles in organisation development, talent management, internal communications, employee engagement, community involvement, and equality, diversity and inclusion. Prior to returning to the UK to take up her current role Louisa spent twenty-seven years living in Hong Kong working and travelling across Asia-Pacific and the Middle East, where she really enjoyed meeting and learning from people from many different parts of the world. Louisa has an MSc in Training and Performance Management, is working towards her ICF coaching accreditation and also holds a private pilots license. In her spare time Louisa enjoys writing, reading, kayaking and long walks with her dog.