Mark has an unusual mixture of development and business background bringing him perfectly into the Solutions Architect role.  Having run a small Microsoft Partner company for 4 years in the early 2000's he was heavily involved in both the development and implementation of projects, however, Mark spent much of his time working alongside customers as well as being involved in the day to day running of his own company.  After this Mark focussed more heavily as a contractor in the development side of things but kept being pulled back into customer facing roles and developing his core skill of bridging the customer / technologist gap.

Mark moved away from development as a core role in 2009 and has since been "dabbling" in development, but focussing far more time on Solutions Architecture and working with customers to ensure they are designing the right solutions for their needs, expectations and budgets.

Mark is still deeply technical, but far prefers the customer interaction and design elements of projects.

Mark is the North West Leader of the SharePoint User Group UK and manages a lot of the communications and Yammer network for the group, alongside his fellow co-leaders.   He can also be seen travelling the UK (and further afield) presenting and supporting other user groups and conferences.