Mark Pollock Keynote Speaker

Endurance explorer, innovator and collaboration catalyst
Extraordinary insight into crisis leadership and performance
Pioneering a cure for spinal cord injuries using robotic technology

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Mark Pollock's Biography

Mark Pollock is a keynote speaker who helps people achieve more than they thought possible. It is tough to deliver world class performance. Your people won’t do it by chance. With a high-impact catalyst you can help them act with the courage to make it happen. Mark Pollock is that catalyst.

Unbroken by blindness in 1998, Mark became an adventure athlete competing in ultra endurance races across deserts, mountains, and the polar ice caps including being the first blind person to race to the South Pole. He also won silver and bronze medals for rowing at the Commonwealth Games and set up a motivational speaking business. In 2010 a fall from a second story window nearly killed him. Mark broke his back and the damage to his spinal cord left him paralysed. Now he is on a new expedition, this time to cure paralysis in our lifetime by exploring the intersection where humans and technology collide. As a speaker, Mark is best known for his 2018 TED Talk focused on resolving the tension between acceptance and hope delivered jointly with his fiancée, Simone George. It gathered over 1.5 million views in its first 6 months online and has been translated into 12 languages. He has inspired millions of people in hundreds of organisations and is a Davos, World Economic Forum, InnoTown, F.ounders, EG and Wired speaker.

Co-Founder of the global running series called Run in the Dark (www.runinthedark.org), Mark has been selected by the World Economic Forum as a Young Global Leader and is a former member of the Global Futures Council on Human Enhancement. He is a UBS Global Visionary, is on the Board of the Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation (USA) and is a Wings for Life Ambassador (Europe). In addition, Mark is the subject of the acclaimed documentaries ‘Blind Man Walking’ and ‘Unbreakable – The Mark Pollock Story’, he has been awarded honorary doctorates by The Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland and also from Queens University Belfast. And, he holds a diploma in Global Leadership and Public Policy for the 21st Century from Harvard University, degrees from Trinity College Dublin and The Smurfit Business School.
Speaking topics:

Adversity & Challenges — Maintaining a Resilient Mindset Under Pressure
Leadership & Motivation — Leading Through a Crisis and Developing Intrinsic Motivation to Move Forward
Mindset & Performance – Challenging Expectations to Perform at a Higher Level
Collaboration & Teamwork — Creating and Motivating Dispersed Teams Across Disciplines and Geographies
Human Enhancement – Exploring the Intersection Where Humans and Technology Collide During the 4th Industrial Revolution.

TEDxHollywood: Expect Problems as We Explore Possibilities (2014)

Mark Pollock: Explorer

Unbreakable: The Mark Pollock Story Trailer (2015)

A love letter to realism in a time of grief

Steps Beyond - Mark Pollock and Ekso Bionics

Expect problems as we explore possibilities

Comments & Testimonials

I was honored to meet with Mark Pollock in Ireland this year, where we engaged with teachers and students at St. Patrick’s College to discuss the ways technology is changing how students learn. Mark is an extreme adventurer and athlete who has raced to the South Pole — and even more incredibly, he was the first blind man to ever do so. Mark is a brilliant example of the fact that we can always achieve more than what we think is possible.

Satya Nadella CEO Microsoft