Sir Mark Rowley QPM | Red Lion Chambers

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Sir Mark was knighted by HM the Queen 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-hundredmillion-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.

Since his retirement from policing in 2018, Sir Mark has taken on new leadership challenges, with a continuing focus on secure and thriving communities, successfully building a portfolio centred around three themes:

First, having always pushed technology-led innovation and transformation, and often frustrated by public-sector limitations, Sir Mark is now working to help Govtech companies assist policing/security agencies to access their potential. Sir Mark is Executive Chair of two new tech companies: Hagalaz is bringing together new methodologies, gaming technologies and crisis leadership expertise to help both specialist police/military contexts and wider commercial sectors improve ‘preparedness’ – the next competitive advantage in a most riskladen world; Make Time Count is a social enterprise company using technology to reinvent the control and support of offenders and the vulnerable in communities. Sir Mark is also a strategic advisor to:

Deloitte – helping to develop their global security and justice work across a range of high value – high risk programs, and particularly building cross-firm consensus and steering a major new counter-illicit finance program, bringing digital capabilities and financial services and police/security expertise together
Public.io – an incubator and influencer, bringing the transformative effects of start-ups to help solve public problems
Blackdot – reinventing the way online data is exploited in investigations

Second, utilising his specialist security and investigation expertise on interesting and complex problems. Developing his work in this area, Sir Mark is a non-executive director of Quest Global, a specialist investigation and security company, most notably in delivering independent integrity units to five global (three Olympic) sports. In addition, Sir Mark is providing international advice on security and policing issues such as on major events.

Third, Sir Mark seeks to contribute with ‘thought leadership’ as a Distinguished Fellow of the Royal United Service Institute, as a member of the Independent Expert Group to the Commission for Countering Extremism, by serving on the Academic Advisory Board of the Policy Exchange Liveable London Unit, and on the Global Advisory Board of the Institute for Global Innovation at the University of Birmingham, as well as being recognised as a respected public commentator.

Sir Mark was a police officer for 31 years, a history that included:

leading UK Counter Terrorism Policing (UKCTP) for four years (2014-18), preventing 27 Islamist and extreme right-wing plots. He led the national police responses to the five attacks of 2017, generating an upswelling of public confidence in the police, whilst validating the strengthened command, firearms, public communications and response arrangements that he had previously instigated. Leading UKCTP during an unprecedented surge of threat (the ‘caliphate’ declared on his second day) Sir Mark strengthened police capabilities and increased partnership with community policing and intelligence agencies. His tenure saw 850 preventative counter-radicalisation interventions, and a doubling in terrorism related arrests. He represented the police with the National Security Council and Government. His responsibilities also encompassed the protection of VIPs, Royals, Embassies and Parliament. He was also Acting Deputy Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police between February and April 2017
Sir Mark joined the MPS as an Assistant Commissioner in December 2011, immediately after the London riots. Whilst supporting the policing of the 2012 Olympics, he led the response to the riots, transforming approaches to policing gangs (shootings down by 42%) and public order – new methods that have ensured no repeat of the disorder sparked at protests and seen in London several times in the years up to and including the London riots. He also led Scotland Yard’s combatting of organised crime and fraud – launching the 300 strong Op Falcon team to combat the growth of online fraud and cyber crime – the biggest such unit in the country. Additionally, he was responsible for many major police operations, such as policing the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee, and reforming the policing of football in London
Prior to joining the MPS, he was Chief Constable of Surrey (with a population of 1.1 million) for four years. He led a radical change program, addressing austerity budget cuts and yet increasing frontline officers whilst leading Surrey to massive reductions in serious crime and the highest level of public confidence in the country. In 2011 he was awarded the Queen’s Police Medal
Beginning his policing career in 1987 in West Midlands Police, having graduated in mathematics from St Catharine’s College, Cambridge, he enjoyed a very wide early policing career as a detective and in uniform, including command roles at sporting events

Sir Mark is married, with two adult children. He enjoys walking, films and travel, and he runs and practises yoga to keep fit and sane – very important as he is an Aston Villa season ticket holder! Sir Mark is also a trustee of a
small charity that runs holidays for young people, with a focus on developing their social responsibility and leadership.