Mark Gallagher
Formula One Industry Executive
SPEAKER FEE RANGE: $9,000–$18,000 [FEE NOTE]
TRAVELS FROM: International
RELATED TOPICS: Crisis Management, Misc. Sports Star, Motor Sports, Teamwork & Team Building, Workplace Safety
Formula One is a unique mix of business and sport, where strong leadership, efficient team work, split second decision making and a clear focus on delivery are required to compete at the highest levels in the 20 Grands Prix which comprise the FIA Formula One World Championship.
Mark Gallagher has worked in Formula One for almost 30 years and has spent the last 15 working as senior executive within the management of Jordan Grand Prix, Red Bull Racing and Cosworth. While operating at the centre of this fascinating sports business, Mark has worked directly with the world’s top drivers and team owners, giving him a privileged understanding of what it takes to be a world class competitor. He is a prolific public speaker on a range of business topics relating to experience gained while working in senior management roles within Formula One auto racing over the last 30 years.
Mark Gallagher has worked in Formula One for almost 30 years and has spent the last 15 working as senior executive within the management of Jordan Grand Prix, Red Bull Racing and Cosworth. While operating at the centre of this fascinating sports business, Mark has worked directly with the world’s top drivers and team owners, giving him a privileged understanding of what it takes to be a world class competitor. He is a prolific public speaker on a range of business topics relating to experience gained while working in senior management roles within Formula One auto racing over the last 30 years.
Mark Gallagher has held senior roles in the high performance environment of Formula 1 motor racing for over 30 years, and today is an author, broadcaster and industry analyst who continues to work with drivers and teams at the forefront of this global sport.
Mark’s management career in Formula 1 included more than a decade on the management board of the highly successful Jordan Grand Prix team, running the world famous Cosworth engine business and helping establish the commercial arm of Red Bull Racing which went on to become 4-times World Champions.
During his career Mark has been a member of the technical working groups within the sport’s governing body, the FIA, tasked with tackling challenges including environmental sustainability and safety, the latter being central to the sport’s regulatory environment. He spent two years working on the energy efficiency regulations adopted by Formula 1 in 2014.
His expertise covers the commercial and operational management of Formula 1 teams, and includes the sport’s regulatory, business and technology landscape. Since 1994 he has introduced some of the world’s leading technology companies to the sport, playing a key role in the digital transformation of Formula 1.
Mark’s career in Formula One commenced in 1983, working in media and communications before joining the start-up Jordan Grand Prix team in 1990. Mark joined the management board of Jordan in 1998, the team challenging for the World Championship in 1999.
In 2004 he was invited to join the Jaguar Racing organisation as it transitioned into becoming Red Bull Racing, and during this time Mark reconnected with David Coulthard who became the team’s lead driver and remains a close business associate today.
Mark later founded the Status Grand Prix race team which won the World Cup of Motorsport in 2009 and competed in events including the renowned Le Mans 24 hrs. In 2010 Mark was appointed head of the world-famous Cosworth Formula 1 engine company, supplying one-third of the teams in Formula 1 with engines and associated technologies.
Since 2012 Mark has focused on his Formula 1 consulting business, Performance Insights, working with a range of clients across the sport. He has written two books, The Business of Winning (Kogan Page, 2014) and Grand Prix - The Last 25 Years (WH Smith, 1999), and collaborated with Coulthard on his Sunday Times Best Seller The Winning Formula (Blink Publishing, 2018). Between 2005 and 2010 Mark was a consultant to Pixar on its CARS and CARS 2 movies.
Mark’s management career in Formula 1 included more than a decade on the management board of the highly successful Jordan Grand Prix team, running the world famous Cosworth engine business and helping establish the commercial arm of Red Bull Racing which went on to become 4-times World Champions.
During his career Mark has been a member of the technical working groups within the sport’s governing body, the FIA, tasked with tackling challenges including environmental sustainability and safety, the latter being central to the sport’s regulatory environment. He spent two years working on the energy efficiency regulations adopted by Formula 1 in 2014.
His expertise covers the commercial and operational management of Formula 1 teams, and includes the sport’s regulatory, business and technology landscape. Since 1994 he has introduced some of the world’s leading technology companies to the sport, playing a key role in the digital transformation of Formula 1.
Mark’s career in Formula One commenced in 1983, working in media and communications before joining the start-up Jordan Grand Prix team in 1990. Mark joined the management board of Jordan in 1998, the team challenging for the World Championship in 1999.
In 2004 he was invited to join the Jaguar Racing organisation as it transitioned into becoming Red Bull Racing, and during this time Mark reconnected with David Coulthard who became the team’s lead driver and remains a close business associate today.
Mark later founded the Status Grand Prix race team which won the World Cup of Motorsport in 2009 and competed in events including the renowned Le Mans 24 hrs. In 2010 Mark was appointed head of the world-famous Cosworth Formula 1 engine company, supplying one-third of the teams in Formula 1 with engines and associated technologies.
Since 2012 Mark has focused on his Formula 1 consulting business, Performance Insights, working with a range of clients across the sport. He has written two books, The Business of Winning (Kogan Page, 2014) and Grand Prix - The Last 25 Years (WH Smith, 1999), and collaborated with Coulthard on his Sunday Times Best Seller The Winning Formula (Blink Publishing, 2018). Between 2005 and 2010 Mark was a consultant to Pixar on its CARS and CARS 2 movies.
- TEAMWORK: How a Team Culture Fuels High Performance
A Formula One team has to design, manufacture, develop and operate a high performance vehicle which combines technologies from aerospace, automotive and ICT. Compliance is essential, so too ensuring that the cars are safe, reliable and high performing. Deadlines cannot be missed; the Grands Prix which comprise the FIA Formula One World Championships represent series of non-negotiable deadlines.
Team work is key; the top teams have 1000 staff, only 10% of whom attend the races, so the high performance team work starts weeks, months and years before an event in the research & development facilities and factories where these fascinating Formula One machines are developed. Trackside, the high performance team work continues, perfectly exemplified by the pit crews who can execute precision pit stops in 2 seconds.
Developing the right team behaviour and culture is a key focus for the leadership teams. This means ensuring that everyone is accountable, takes responsibility and understands the importance of avoiding silo-mentality and embracing cross functional communications.
Alignment behind the team's strategies and ambitious goals is a vital, so too having the agility to flex strategy in the face of constant changes in technology and the performance of competitors. - Data-Driven Performance
More than any other sport, Formula One has embraced a data-driven business culture, particularly as regards its near-obsession with marginal gains and continuous improvement.
Starting in the late 1980’s teams began to develop the ability to gather, process, store and utilise information streams in order to better manage risk, optimise performance and guarantee outcomes.
Data acquisition and analytics is now a cornerstone technology, enabling drivers, trackside engineers and headquarters staff to determine precisely how the car and driver is behaving, diagnose issues, resolve problems and speed decision making. As information flows seamlessly around the globe, linking car, team and factory, data security is essential, and robust systems ensure protection from multiple threats.
The use of simulators has transformed driver training, enabling systems to be learned, tested and developed in a virtual environment prior to real-world deployment. And with the advent of additive manufacturing, machine learning and AI across Formula One, the sport’s use of Big Data to transform all aspects of its operations is set to accelerate further. - Safety and Risk Management
Safety is a first order priority in Formula One and the last 25 years have seen a profound change to the way in which the sport manages risk. Between 1950 and 1994 there were over 40 driver fatalities at events; there has been one since. This has been made possible by creating clear priorities as regards safety, mandated by the sport’s leadership and shared by the individual teams and race promoters.
Process safety has played a key part in this transformation, whilst a data-driven approach to understanding incidents and accidents, backed up by extensive research and development, has created cars capable of withstanding high-energy impacts, and fully protecting their occupants.
The safety and risk management story goes far beyond the racing itself, the employees and contractors of the teams benefitting from best practices shared between the industry’s HSE management. Furthermore the sport’s governing body, the FIA, transfers knowledge gained from motor sport into promoting road safety around the world through its Action for Road Safety Campaign, employing the United Nations Safe Systems Approach and is a founding partner of the European New Car Approval Programme (EuroNCAP) which has transformed vehicle safety. - Change and Transformation
Business models break, new ones develop, technology evolves, regulations are revised and customers alter buying habits.
Every industry is witnessing change, and Formula One is no different; as a multi-billion dollar sport it has seen unprecedented change in the last 20 years. The number of events has grown, shifting from its heartland of Europe to a truly global calendar which sees 65% of events in long-haul destinations. The media landscape is changing out of all recognition; gone are the audiences made up of families watching television together, instead global sports are having to develop products to appeal to all ages and demographics, across multiple digital media platforms.
Not only are the sport’s teams doing business in new places and in new ways, but diversification strategies are being implemented as business models evolve. The EU ban on Tobacco Advertising and Sponsorship in 2005 caused a seismic shift, so do did the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis. Today teams are selling technology solutions into diverse sectors including automotive, healthcare, pharmaceuticals and aerospace; a radical transformation for Formula One teams, now operating as technology providers to industry.
Above all, Formula One’s leadership teams have had to communicate, manage and implement transformation strategies, bringing their teams with them, and ensuring that they make the most from embracing change.
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