William Townsend has worked in international relations and liberal politics for over ten years. Prior to joining the Liberal International secretariat in 2013, William managed local, national, and international elections for the Liberal Democrats (UK), planning target seat campaigns to deliver some of the party’s best-ever results. Following a cross-party stint in advocacy campaigning for free and fair presidential elections in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where his writing won headlines in international news, William took up a position as an editorial assistant at the Royal African Society, writing on African politics and collaborating with international experts.
As the head of communications and political outreach for Liberal International over the past three years, William has taken a leading role alongside the former secretary general and bureau to transform the work of LI. He has worked to make the federation the most visible political international in the world, conceptualised and actioned LI’s most successful campaign, dramatically raised the quality and quantity of LI’s digital and printed output, in addition to working with a wide range of international stakeholders to deliver political events on every continent in which LI has a member party.
Today he works closely to support LI member parties and is leading the secretariat in the establishment of the Global Liberal Parliametarian’s database and the LI-FNF global communications campaign to fight disinformation. William holds a master’s degree from King’s College, London.