Mark

Name
Mark

Position
Chairman / Non-Executive Director / Board Advisor / Mentor

Location
South Wales / Avon / Wilts / Worcs / Gloucs / Hereford

Big Business Experience

Thomas Cook

Cardiff Airport

Small Business Experience

DeltaXignia

Fusion OH

Summary

Mark is a successful entrepreneur, developer and businessperson working in all areas of the digital over 30 years. A board member for over 25 years with 6 companies, a runner-up Welsh Young Businessperson of the Year and a Business Insider Rising Star. He provides strategic decision-making support to SMEs wanting to upscale, develop product, improve profitability, prepare for trade sale or transition to EOT.

Mark founded and ran VSI-thinking for 17 years and successfully sold in 2015. He directed commercial strategies, enterprise architecture, technical product development and continually developed staff. At DeltaXignia he implemented a 3-year plan to grow revenue and profit, together with expanding the product portfolio and transformed efficiencies. Mark also drove the transitioned to an Employee-Owned organisation (EOT) and recruited a new CEO to complete the succession.

Key Areas of Expertise

Strategic business planning
Commercial strategy and analysis
Product development
Marketing and digital media
Operations management
Online platform design
Corporate social responsibility
Leadership and team building
Business growth and sale

Experience

VSI-thinking: Managing Director (Owner / Founder) – Aug 1998 to Oct 2015

Profitable every year of operation, with almost 50% net profit margin for the five years prior to the sale. Responsible for all commercial direction during the 17 years, business strategies, enterprise architect, technical product development and organisational leader continually developing staff.

Key customers: Manchester United (CMT Learning) / Ministry of Justice / Thomas Cook / Celtic Manor Resort.

DeltaXignia: Managing Director – Sep 2021 to Sep 2024 / Non-Exec Director – Apr 2020 to Sep 21

Initially supporting the business as a Non-Executive and then succeeding the owner / founder running the business to deliver a 3 year plan for growth and preparation for sale. Turned around 2 successive years of falling revenue, to grow revenue over 75% and double profit, whilst increasing the staff to help deliver an expanded product portfolio positioning the business for acquisition. Introduced a new customer service portal, new licencing model with usage logging infrastructure, and various operational transformations to improve business efficiency. Oversaw key new developments in core products XML Compare and Merge, delivered first SaaS solution with DeltaJSON, and new product development with ConversionQA to widen the portfolio and customer offering. Finally, transitioning the business to an Employee Ownership Trust and completing the succession plan by recruiting a new CEO.

Key Customers: Apple / Boeing / International Standards Organisation (ISO) / European Commission Taxation and Customer Directorate.

Uprise (Uprise Marketing Ltd): Technical Director – Oct 2015 to Sept 2019

Uprise board member supporting the transformation of businesses operation post acquisition. Leading migration to Azure and embedding GDPR into business. Technical, strategic and project lead for key clients.

Aston Martin Owners Club Limited: Digital Director – Apr 2016 to Apr 2017

Board Director of the global Aston Martin Owners Club with portfolio for digital.