Mark is the founder of Ubuntu and leads product strategy at Canonical, the company behind the OS. Mark champions design-driven development and has a focus on quality and cadence in the engineering work done at Canonical.

Mark previously founded Thawte, a company specialising in digital certificates and cryptography, and HBD, an investment company. The Shuttleworth Foundation which funds innovative leaders of change in all aspects of society with a particular emphasis on openness and education. After a year training in Star City, Russia, he flew in 2002 as a member of the crew of Soyuz mission TM34 to the International Space Station.