Colonel (ret'd) Mark Burrows

Colonel (Retd) Mark Burrows joined the Royal Engineers(RE) in 1980 after completing a degree in Chemical Engineering. There then followed a number of appointments in both Germany and Northern Ireland but then an opportunity arose to serve with the Defense Mapping and Agency and Hydrographic and Topographic Centre in Maryland USA. This eventually led him to undertake further survey training and develop into a Geo Int specialist. He then attended the Royal Naval Staff College and was assigned a number of subsequent appointments in the UK MOD and SHAPE,mainly working in operations and ISR, often working closely with what was NIMA and now the NGA. On his last appointment, as the professional head of RE(Geo), he was instrumental in helping to set up the new Joint Forces Intelligence Group and bringing the Geo community into Joint Forces Wyton. He now works for the Science, Technology and Facilities Council at Harwellin Oxfordshire within business innovation directorate. The main objective is to develop the700 acre Harwell Campus with new buildings and ‘hi-tech’ companies, as well as helping to set up and develop small and medium enterprises – some of which are in the ‘downstream space’ sector, exploiting data derived from space based platforms.