The Business of Winning

Business Speaker, Motivational Speaker and Formula One Expert

Mark Gallagher on the business lessons to be learned from Formula One™

Mark Gallagher has worked in the senior management of Formula One™ organisations including Jordan Grand Prix,  Jaguar / Red Bull Racing and Cosworth for almost 30 years and is a business and motivational speaker on the  lessons to be learned from this most demanding of technology sports.

With nearly three decades xperience in international motor sport, Mark has developed a wide range of business interests including driver management, running his own team Status Grand Prix, and working with leading figures in the sport where his experience and ability to shape successful programmes is widely recognised.

Between 2009 and 2011 Mark was responsible for running the renowned Cosworth F1 business, returning the UK company to Formula One as a engine supplier to four teams; Team Lotus, HRT, Marussia Virgin Racing and the iconic Williams team. As a result Mark helped re-establish Cosworth at the forefront of the sport, revitalising a brand name with 23 Formula One World Championship titles to its credit.

As Managing Director and Team Principal of Status Grand Prix, Mark ran A1 Team Ireland which competed in the A1 Grand Prix series, winning the World Cup of Motorsport in 2009.  Following this success the team progressed into the Formula One feeder series GP3 in 2010 where it scored 2nd place overall after race victories in Silverstone, Hockenheim, Spa and Monza. It has continued on its winning ways in 2011, as well as expanding to compete in the famous Le Mans 24 Hours with a Lola LMP2 sports prototype chassis.

Formerly a Formula One correspondent in the 1980s for media including London’s Sunday Express newspaper, BBC and Independent Radio News, Mark became a press consultant for top Formula One sponsors including Marlboro and Canon before beginning his career in team management. Commercial Manager for the Pacific F1 team in 1994-95 he then rejoined Jordan Grand Prix, where he previously worked in 1991, remaining for 10 years during which he became Director of Marketing & Communications and was part of the senior management board during the team’s most successful years. Editor of a number of books on motor racing in the 1980s, Mark’s book ‘Grand Prix – The Last 25 Years’ was published by WH Smith, London, in 1991.

In 2004 he joined Jaguar Racing and worked through it rebirth as Red Bull Racing before setting up his own sports management company and racing team. In 2006 he began an ongoing consultancy for Disney Pixar, coordinating the European launch activities for CARS The Movie at the Spanish Grand Prix, the same year in which his team successfully competed in the world famous Le Mans 24 Hours for the first time. He also became the Formula One industry expert on Sky News and Sky Sports News in Europe, commenting on every aspect of F1.

Mark has personally worked with some of the greatest drivers in Formula One including Michael and Ralf Schumacher, Ayrton Senna, Damon Hill, Nigel Mansell, David Coulthard and Jenson Button, while experiences gained working at the forefront of Formula One team management give him a unique insight into the challenge of competing in this global sport; experiences he can pass on by acting as a business speaker and as a motivational speaker.

“Formula One teams operate in the most demanding environment imaginable,” says Mark, “not only having to design, manufacture and operate a new and highly sophisticated Formula One car each season, but doing so against a backdrop of ever-changing regulation, legislation and challenging economic times. Business decisions made many months or years beforehand are just as important as split second reactions on the track. Managing the technical, financial and operational requirements of a Formula One team requires unique skill, while keeping a team of several hundred people topped by two drivers fully focussed on team goals is a relentless task.”