Mark has extensive leadership experience across education, local, regional and national government. He has been a teacher and head teacher in a variety of special schools between 1985 and 2001. Subsequently, in local government, he became a Director of Children’s Services (Solihull 2006-09) and twice a council Chief Executive (Solihull 2007-14 and Birmingham 2014-17). Following 15 months of consultancy work with KPMG and CollaborateCIC, in June 2018 Mark became Director General for Children, Young People, Education and Skills for the Government of Jersey where he was responsible for implementing the findings of a child abuse inquiry. In January 2022, Mark moved back to the UK to become chief executive of the Leadership Centre (where he is now an Associate Director) and, since August 2023, he complemented this role first with leading the teams tasked with establishing the new East Midlands Combined County Authority (2023-25) and then the Hull and East Yorkshire Combined Authority (2025). Mark is now Interim Chief Officer for the Sussex & Brighton Strategic Authority which was established in March 2026 and will elect its first Mayor in May 2028. He and his team are leading the work on the area’s first Prosperity Strategy designed to capitalise on the opportunities presented by devolution to drive inclusive growth across Sussex. In his spare time Mark wonders where his spare time has gone.