Biography

Mark is an award-winning educator and educational leader at the University of Surrey where he currently holds the post of University Academic Lead for Employability. Mark was recognised as the Teacher of the Year for the University at the Vice-Chancellors’ Awards for Excellence in 2022 and the national CHME Annual Excellence in Learning and Teaching award for 2023. He is a Fellow of the Institute of Hospitality where he also serves as a national supervisory board member, a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Authority and a member of the Executive Committee for the Council of Hospitality Management Educators (CHME).

Mark provides leadership as the University Academic Lead for Employability and has strategic responsibility for employability as a cornerstone of the University’s educational mission. He works to ensure sustainable employability initiatives are embedded across the curriculum and ensure our graduates move into highly skilled employment, empowering them to thrive in their chosen fields. He leads the University Employability Forum and works closely with the University and Faculty Educational Leadership Teams, School Directors of Employability, Associate Director Student Success, Head of Careers, Head of Placements and Employability and Head of Employer Engagement.

Mark’s research interests focus on hospitality operations management and specifically the impacts of innovation and technology on sustainability, service design and management. Mark has published his work in leading journals and at international conferences. His first journal publication won the Outstanding Paper for the International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management (3* ABS Journal) Emerald Literati Award Winners for 2021. Mark is a regular peer reviewer for both the International Journal of Hospitality Management and International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management and a member of the scientific committee for the ENTER conference each year.

Prior to academe, Mark enjoyed a career in four and five red star hotels initially as Food and Beverage Manager at the Five Red Star Athenaeum Hotel and Apartments on Piccadilly in London. Mark later moved to Tylney Hall, a luxury Country House hotel in Hampshire, as Deputy General Manager, and became General Manager three years later. Mark's most recent General Manager’s role was at the design-led, Aviator - a hotel by Tag, in Farnborough, where he and his team secured red star status for the hotel in less than twelve months and won a string of other awards.

Mark holds a Master’s by Research from Bournemouth University in Service Process Design, a Graduate Diploma in Learning and Teaching in Higher Education from the University of Surrey, where he graduated with a First Class BSc (Hons) in Hotel and Catering Management, receiving an Associateship of the University for distinction in his professional training year.