Bidesh Sarkar

Biography

Bidesh Sarkar became Interim Director General, Chief Operating Officer, at the Department for Business and Trade in February 2023. He was Interim Director General, Chief Operating Officer, at the Department for International Trade (DIT) from 1 November 2022 to 7 February 2023. He is DBT’s Senior Information Risk Owner and serves as the executive committee champion for diversity and inclusion.

Bidesh was previously DIT’s Director of Finance, Security and Business Services (covering knowledge and information management, estates and health and safety).

Prior to joining DIT, Bidesh has been Chief Financial Officer (CFO) and corporate services lead at Academies Enterprise Trust (a national academy school chain) and the British Council. He has also held CFO positions at Blenheim Chalcot (a venture capital firm) and Plan International (an international development organisation), and has been finance director for a European division of Kimberly-Clark Corporation.