Staff Profile – Denise Finney

Denise Finney, Chief Executive Officer of the IALF, has been based in Indonesia for over 25 years, working in the field of language, education and development. Originally from Northern Ireland, she started her English language training career in London, before moving to the other side of the world to work in Universitas Pattimura in Ambon, Maluku. Following a couple of years in Bandung, Denise moved to Bali where she has lived ever since, in a house set in the ricefields of Ubud.

Denise has been involved in a number of language and teacher training projects in Indonesia and the Asia-Pacific region, and coordinated an English language and teacher training project in Timor-Leste, operating in a complex and dynamic social and linguistic environment. She spends a lot of time travelling: visiting IALF Jakarta, IALF Surabaya, and Dili, Timor-Leste on a regular basis, as well as visiting other parts of Indonesia in the course of her work representing the IALF.