Spotlight on Leadership: Mark Gleeson, Regional Director UK

Mark Gleeson recently joined Auror as Regional Director for the United Kingdom. We had a quick chat with Mark to see what excites him about Auror and Retail Crime Intelligence, and dove into his very unique background. Let's meet Mark!

Why did you join Auror? ‍

It was a rather easy decision to be honest. Having come from a global partnership role, I truly valued Auror’s approach to building collaborative and long-lasting partnerships, and delivering real value to customers. The platform is best in class at reporting, solving and preventing crime; you really need to see it to believe it. Lastly and importantly, Auror’s company culture in my opinion is the best I have seen. Auror really invests in their people, and from the moment I walked into their office I could see there was a real buzz about the place.

‍How did you first hear about Auror?

‍In 2018 at a wedding in Wellington, New Zealand! I met one of the co-founders and CEO, Phil Thomson. We talked for hours about the power behind building a credible intelligence network and the similarities between the military intelligence network and the police, and how it empowers decision makers (we did also throw a few shapes on the dance floor - fear not).

Ever since then I’ve been tracking Auror’s global growth from New Zealand to Australia and then into North America. It’s been quite the journey for the company.

‍What excites you about Retail Crime Intelligence for the UK market? ‍

I’m extremely excited to leverage Auror’s experience with both retailers and law enforcement globally, and adapt that to the UK market. You only need to look at today’s UK papers to see that Organised Retail Crime and aggression is on the rise. With a market-leading platform, I’m excited to partner with retailers and police to tackle those challenges head on. We’ve got case study upon case study of Auror genuinely helping the lives of frontline retail staff, making it easier to report crimes and critically, making them safer in their roles.

From my previous experience, I understand the power of building a credible intelligence network in order to make informed decisions in harmful environments. If you can stop these actions happening at the source, using data and analytics, then it’s powerful and extremely motivating for all involved. It takes a network to defeat a network.

‍Can you summarize your career journey before Auror? 

I’ve got a real blend of military and commercial experience.

I spent my former years as an RAF Regiment Officer, specialising in advising foreign militaries, security forces, and government departments. This included operations in Afghanistan and West Africa, commanding various team structures, often working with police and intelligence specialists.

My commercial experience has been focussed around consulting to large multinationals, whether that be conducting major transformation programmes, advising on post M&A Integration & Separation projects, or as the Chief of Staff to the NHS CEO on Project Nightingale. We built a hospital from scratch in nine days; it was quite the challenge!

Most recently I’ve been working for a technology company as the Global Partnership Director. This involved expanding the company into new territories and building partnerships with companies ranging in size from FTSE 100 to a one-person specialist organisation.

‍What’s Mark doing for fun outside of work?

‍I’m tremendously active and love an adventure. I most recently cycled 1400km+ from London to Barcelona, self-supported, raising money for Mind In Kingston. Previous challenges have also included running Ultra Marathons (100km+) and sailing across the South Atlantic from Brazil to South Africa!

Honestly anything outdoors and I’m all in. If anyone is undertaking a challenge, give me a shout and I’ll likely join, it doesn’t take much to twist my arm.

Interested in learning more about Auror's growth in the UK? Set up a chat with Mark!