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 and, since August 2023, he has complemented this role first with leading the teams tasked with establishing the new East Midlands Combined County Authority (2023-25), the Hull and East Yorkshire Combined Authority (2025) and, presently, the Sussex and Brighton Combined County Authority.

In his spare time Mark wonders where his spare time has gone.

For more information about the Leadership Centre: https://www.leadershipcentre.org.uk/