Mark Pollock

Unbroken by blindness in 1998, Mark went on to compete 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 Mark was left paralysed after falling from a second story window. He is now exploring the frontiers of spinal cord injury recovery combining an innovative electrical stimulator from NeuroRecovery Technologies to super-charge his nervous system while walking hundreds of thousands of steps in his Ekso Bionics robotic legs. Through the Mark Pollock Trust he is on a mission to find and connect people around the world to fast-track a cure for paralysis.

Selected by the World Economic Forum as a Young Global Leader and appointed to the Global Futures Council on Human Enhancement, Mark is on the Board of the Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation (USA) and is a Wings for Life Ambassador (UK). He has written the book Making It Happen and is the subject of the acclaimed documentaries called Blind Man Walking and Unbreakable. In addition, he is a Davos, EG, Wired and TEDx Hollywood Speaker and is the co-Founder of the global running series called Run in the Dark.

He has been awarded the Trinity College Alumni Award and honorary doctorates by The Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland and Queen’s University Belfast. In addition, he holds a diploma in Global Leadership and Public Policy for the 21st Century from Harvard University and degrees from Trinity College Dublin and The Smurfit Business School.