Dr Mark Williamson is co-founder and Director of Action for Happiness and has overall strategic and operational responsibility for the organisation.

Mark has taken Action for Happiness from a concept on paper to a mass participation movement with hundreds of thousands of members and a wide range of activities. Mark has a long-standing interest in 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 helping people and communities thrive.

Since creating and launching Action for Happiness in 2011, Mark has engaged with a vast range of organisations, projects and people on the topics of happiness, wellbeing and resilience - including leading academics, major multi-national corporations, public sector organisations, policy makers, SMEs, schools, charities and community organisations. He has led the development of all Action for Happiness resources and activities and has spoken regularly on related topics at events and conferences across the UK and around the world. He hosted major events with The Dalai Lama (Patron of Action for Happiness) in 2015 and 2021.

Prior to Action for Happiness Mark had a diverse range of experience across private and non-profit sectors, from start-ups through to large multi-national companies. He was previously Director of the Innovation unit at the Carbon Trust and founder of online initiative What You Can Do. Previously, Mark spent nine years as a management consultant at Accenture, leading a wide range of projects relating to strategy, technology and change management. Earlier in 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 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, Chartered Engineer and Fellow of the RSA. In 2022 he was awarded an Honorary Doctorate in recognition of his work with Action for Happiness.

Mark lives in Surrey with his wife Kate and their three children: Emily, Daisy and Harry. He loves cycling and football and is a long-suffering Aston Villa fan. He's also passionate about music and enjoys playing guitar and singing.