Mark T. Townsend is a political and economics journalist and has written for publications including Accountancy Age, Euromoney, Emerging Markets, Financial Times, Institutional Investor, Mergers & Acquisitions Monthly, Washington Times, and Strategic Risk.

Mark was Editor-at-Large to Complinet, a Thomson Reuters company and business editor of Khaleej Times newspaper in Dubai, affiliated with the International Herald Tribune. He has worked with major broadcasters including Al Jazeera, BBC, CNN, Voice of America, Geo TV and presented Business Breakfast and Business Tonight on Dubai-Eye 103.8FM.

He has interviewed leading political and business figures such as President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan and is a media leader at the World Economic Forum. He has covered major news stories in the Middle East, including the visit of US President George W. Bush in 2008. In November 2008 he led a media delegation to Pakistan that coincided with the tragic terrorist events in Mumbai. His coverage of the 2006 bid by DP World for P&O and fierce political storm it generated in the US is recounted in the book The New Silk Road, by Ben Simpfendorfer.

Mark is course advisor to the British College of Journalism and senior advisor on the Persian Gulf to a leading management consultancy in the UK. He regularly conducts media training for the public and private sector. He has chaired numerous summits and moderated roundtable events in Asia and the Middle East and advises the public/private sector on the use of social media.