Born in 1959, Mark had an interest in outdoor activities from an early age and went on his first international expedition at the age of 15. Graduating from the University of Newcastle upon Tyne in 83 with a degree in modern languages, his passion for outdoor activities led to a position with the UK outdoor specialist, Berghaus. By the age of 30 he’d been appointed to the board of directors as International Sales Director.
Following on from this was a move to the Swiss climbing specialist, Mammut Sports Group where he gained further experience of living and working in an international setting.
He returned once more to the UK and after a period of working as a Consultant, re-joined the Board of Berghaus for a further five-year term. The year 2002 saw a move to Lowe Alpine as a Group Board Director and with this came a move to the Lake District in northwest England. Together with the CEO of The Mammut Sports Group, Rolf Schmid, he founded the European Outdoor Group (EOG) in 2003 with the clear objective of uniting the hitherto fragmented outdoor industry. The EOG’s agenda covers key areas such as research, sustainability, CSR, outreach and conservation. To date the EOG has been highly successful and its limited membership of 52 brands and 6 National Associations represents approximately 80% of the branded outdoor market. In 2005 Mark agreed to take on the management of the group and became Secretary General, a post he has held since. Still living in the Lake District, he tries to balance a busy work life with family and outdoor activies.
Mark will present his view of the key challenges facing the outdoor industry at innov_ex 2012. He wishes to remain flexible in his exact presentation to ensure he is able to cover the current burning issues as at April 2012 and for the period ahead. However the issues are likely to include:
1. Managing Asian supply chains in the context of the rapidly changing economic/political changes in these countries
2. Sustainability and the impact of high leverage campaign organisations.
3. Potential impact facing the outdoor and sports industries of the 2011 banking ‘shift’ on funding and /working capital for sector businesses.
He will challenge companies to look at how they are managing the volatility of our current changing marketplace.
