Mark started working as a researcher in the field of small business development and trade and industrial policy for the African National Congress Parliamentary Research Department based Cape Town in 1995. At the time, his work mainly focused on the policy environment. He later joined Ntsika Enterprise Promotion Agency where he focused on the conceptualisation, design, development and implementation of small business development programmes. One of the major areas of work during this time was the establishment and strengthening of a national network of business development service providers. Since 2000 he has been Managing Partner at Development@Work specialising in economic development and education and training services.

Since then, he has been involved in numerous performance improvement assignments in the public sector, focusing on organisational transformation, programme design and implementation projects. He has worked with, and managed, both small and large teams of people.

Mark holds a law degree from the University of the Western Cape as well as an Honours Degree in Development Studies. He is a visiting researcher at the LINK Centre, Wits University, where he is responsible for building the e-governance research and capacity building programme. Previously he has also lectured the knowledge management course on the Public Policy Masters Programme of the Graduate School of Public and Development Management at Wits University.

Mark believes that effective public institutions and organisations are vital to the quality of our democracy and for addressing the major challenges of unemployment and inequality in South Africa. He has consulted in the public sector for more than a decade, having made the choice early in his working career to focus his energies on the public good.

He says: “Development@Work is not a business. It is a practice. The model we have adopted has been great at removing the commercial pressures of running a consulting business. We are able to focus on ploughing our knowledge and extensive experience into working directly with public sector partners, rather than getting the work and then having junior consultants do all the work. Also, this work is all about people in organisations – it is about harnessing the passions, motivations and skills of public sector managers to improve how these public bodies execute their mandates. That challenge of finding ways in which to continuously apply what we have learnt in the last decade to enhancing public performance is one that we relish at Development@Work!”