My name's Mark, and I love spreadsheets.

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They're my way of contributing to human creativity, whilst simultaneously providing the structure and order we all need in our lives. And much of what I do automates interactions between data, presentations and documents across multiple Microsoft Office programmes. Data is beautiful!

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I've had stints in central government, school finance, outdoor pursuits, primary education, local authority work and market research, providing support to a wide range of service teams for their performance data and business information analytics.

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I hold the ECDL (European Computer Driving Licence) and ECDL Advanced qualifications, averaging over 95% in the test modules.

 

Outside of the office, I try and keep exercised and connected via my table tennis club, Revolution TTC, in the Bedford and District Table Tennis League. I'm also part of local community theatre with Bedford Drama Company and Swan Theatre Company - all of which have their own facets of creativity and discipline.

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Most important in my life is my Christian faith, much of which is lived out through being part of Grace Community Church in Kempston. God's provided a way for a broken world to be fixed, and while I can't even begin to emulate that, I can reflect the fact that life is supposed to be more ordered and understandable than it sometimes feels like it ever will be. If that means helping people find their way through spreadsheets, then I'm glad to make it happen!

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I came across this prayer of Thomas Aquinas, and I think it's a good motto to have at the outset of all my own learning, and as I provide training for others:

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Grant to me keenness of mind,
capacity to remember,

skill in learning,

subtlety to interpret

and eloquence in speech.

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Sounds like a great prayer for us all.