Sir Mark was knighted in the 2018 Birthday honours list for his “exceptional contribution to national security at a time of unprecedented threat and personally providing reassuring national leadership through the attacks of 2017”. He built globally recognised leadership expertise in national security, policing, crisis management and transformation, whilst leading thousands of people in multi-hundred-million-pound organisations. He is regarded as an unwaveringly determined, innovative and transformational leader able to operate in the most complex stakeholder and political landscape, under the most extreme personal and organisational public pressure and scrutiny.

Having retired from policing in 2018 Sir Mark has turned to new leadership challenges, with a continued focused on secure and thriving communities. These include;

• Strategic advisor to Public.io helping to bring the transformative effects of SME technologies to the public sector
• Executive Chairman, ‘Panopticon Technologies’: a new venture bringing the disruptive effects of technology to the justice and security sectors
• Strategic advisor to ‘Deloitte’ – helping develop their global security and justice work
• Non-executive director of ‘Quest Global’, a specialist investigation and security company most notably in delivering sports integrity solutions
• Providing international advice on security and policing
• ‘Thought leadership’: as a Distinguished Fellow with the Royal United Service institute; a member of the Independent Expert Group to the Commission for Countering Extremism; on the Academic Advisory Panel of the Policy Exchange, Liveable London Unit; and as a respected public commentator.

Sir Mark led UK Counter Terrorism Policing (UKCTP) for four years whilst the ISIS, neo-nazi and other terror threats accelerated dramatically. He led urgent transformation and ever closer working with local policing and the Security Service that enabled 70 successful interventions per month protecting the vulnerable from radicalisation, doubled disruptive arrests and prevented 27 late-stage Islamist and extreme right-wing plots. He led the national police responses to the five attacks of 2017 that produced an upswelling of public confidence in the police, whilst validating the strengthened command, firearms and communications he had previously instigated.

Having been Surrey Chief Constable for four years (and lifted public confidence levels to the highest in the country) he joined the MPS as an Assistant Commissioner in 2011 following the riots. Whilst leading policing of the Diamond Jubilee and supporting Olympic security he transformed approaches to policing gangs – reducing shootings by 42% and London’s murders to an all time record low. He also led reforms in policing of public order and organised crime and fraud – launching the 300 strong Op Falcon team to combat the growth of online fraud and cyber-crime.

He began his service on the beat in Birmingham with West Midlands Police having graduated in mathematics from St Catharine’s College, Cambridge University. He has been married for 30 years with two adult sons, he is an Aston Villa season ticket holder, plays football, runs and practices yoga (all badly) to stay fit and sane and loves film and travel.