Our Director
Mark Williamson is Director of Action for Happiness and joined
in October 2010. He has a long-standing interest in the area of
happiness and well-being and is passionate about creating a more
balanced, collaborative society that focuses less on consumption
and material wealth and more on the things that really matter.
Mark brings a diverse range of experience across private and
non-profit sectors, from start-ups through to large multi-national
companies. He was most recently Director of the Innovation unit at
the Carbon Trust, where he led a team developing and demonstrating
solutions for a low-carbon future. He was also a non-executive
director of Solar Press, a start-up designing low-cost solar cells
for use in the developing world, and founder of What You Can Do, an
online initiative encouraging personal action on climate
change.
Previously, Mark spent nine years as a management consultant,
leading a wide range of projects relating to strategy, technology
and change management. At the start of his career he also worked
for Hewlett Packard Labs and Orange. After more than a decade of
corporate life, Mark decided to change direction and is now focused
on using his energy and leadership skills to help build a better
society.
Mark has an MBA from IMD business school in Switzerland, where
he received the Presidents Award for outstanding achievement. He
also holds a PhD and first class honours degree in Electronics and
Communications from the University of Bristol. He is a member of
the Institute of Directors, a Sainsbury Management Fellow and a
Chartered Engineer.
Mark lives in Surrey with his wife and their three young
children. He loves football and is a long-suffering Aston Villa
fan. He's also passionate about music and enjoys playing guitar and
singing (some would say rather too enthusiastically) in his local
community choir.