The British Council has appointed Sao Bui-Van as its new Director of Communications with responsibility for the British Council‘s external and internal communications strategy. Sao will lead the Corporate Headquarters communications function in the UK, in support of the British Council’s wider communications and brand strategy in over 100 countries worldwide. His role will include external and internal communications; crisis and reputation management; media relations and events. Sao takes over from Mark Herbert who has been appointed Head of School at the British Council, after eight years in the role.
Sao Bui-Van was previously at the BBC, where he held a number of senior communications roles, most recently as Acting Director of Internal Communications and Engagement and previously Head of Communications, BBC North and Head of Media Relations. Sao managed all aspects of communications around the creation of BBC North in Salford, and headed the BBC press office during the Hutton and Pollard enquiries.
Prior to this he was Director of Media and Public Relations at English National Opera.
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Notes to Editors
For more information, contact Nicola Norton, on +44 (0)207 389 4889 or nicola.norton@britishcouncil.org.
About the British Council
The British Council is the UK’s international organisation for cultural relations and educational opportunities. We create international opportunities for the people of the UK and other countries and build trust between them worldwide.
We work in more than 100 countries and our 8,000 staff – including 2,000 teachers – work with thousands of professionals and policy makers and millions of young people every year by teaching English, sharing the arts and delivering education and society programmes.
We are a UK charity governed by Royal Charter. A core publicly-funded grant provides 20 per cent of our turnover which last year was £864 million. The rest of our revenues are earned from services which customers around the world pay for, such as English classes and taking UK examinations, and also through education and development contracts and from partnerships with public and private organisations. All our work is in pursuit of our charitable purpose and supports prosperity and security for the UK and globally.