David Benton, CEO of the International Council of Nurses

David Benton took up post as Chief Executive Officer of the International Council of Nurses (ICN) on the 1^st of October 2008.  Immediately prior to this he worked with ICN for three years where he held the role of consultant nursing and health policy and specialized in regulation, licensing, and education.

He qualified as a general and mental health nurse at the then Highland College of Nursing and Midwifery in Inverness, Scotland.  His MPhil research degree focused on the application of computer assisted learning to post-basic nurse education and has over the past thirty years had articles published in relation to research,  practice, education, leadership, and policy topics.

Benton has held senior roles for twenty years across a range of organizations.  These roles have included working as Executive Director of Nursing at a health Authority in London; as a senior civil servant in Northern and Yorkshire Region; as Chief Executive of a Nurse Regulatory body in Scotland and as Nurse Director of a University Trust Health System.

Benton has travelled widely looking at various aspects of different health systems and was delighted to receive a Nuffield Policy fellowship in 1999.  This enabled him to look at both USA and Spain so as to understand how the professional voice might be best heard within the new constitutional arrangements in Scotland.

Benton is the recipient of several awards and honours. He is particularly proud of being awarded the inaugural Nursing Standard Leadership award in 1993.  He was presented with Fellowship of the Florence Nightingale Foundation in 2001 and awarded Fellowship of the Royal College of Nursing in 2003 for his contribution to health and nursing policy.