THE RUN GRATEFUL TEAM
Who We Are
Mark White
Founder & CEO
Mark White has held many titles over the years: father, husband, son, brother, CEO/founder, ideas man, but above all, he is a firm believer in not attaching himself to any particular label: “I am a human being first and what comes with that is my expectation around how I will be able to take on the different roles life has presented me and where my curiosity will continue to lead me.”
Mark is the founder of a company called Your Town which has live “community up” initiatives/campaigns across various UK towns, including Your Town Runners. In addition to launching Run Grateful, he recently created and founded MEUS, which is a platform to reimagine men’s health in order to support them physically, mentally, and spiritually. In 2019, Mark was voted in the top 15 social entrepreneurs in the UK by Redbull.
Fun Facts: Mark is a children’s book author, having released Dumbleby Forest - centred around a world where children send their dunnies when they are ready to let them go.
Liz Warner
Communications Lead
Liz is Communications Lead at Run Grateful and her greatest passion is to bring people together from every country on the planet. Liz’s background in relationship building, strategic communication planning, and virtual event coordination allows her to contribute to Run Grateful through brand storytelling, copywriting, social media management, and global campaign organization.
After recently completing an 18-month philanthropic marathon mission called Run to Reach, where she ran 30 marathons in 30 countries before turning 30, Liz was eager to devote the skills she acquired managing her own global running campaign to supporting the growth and global expansion of Run Grateful.
What Liz loves most about Run Grateful is the intersection of running with humanity. She believes in the power this community has for transcending differences and contributing to the positive ripple effect gratitude can have on all of us. Keep up with her adventures here.
Fun Facts: Liz took a 6-month sabbatical to attend intensive Japanese cooking courses while living in Tokyo (with hope of one day opening up her own bento shop) and she dreams of one day running a marathon in Antarctica.
Rachel Markies
Run Grateful x WeAreNext
Programme Manager
Rachel is currently developing programmes that engage young people globally with the power of movement and gratitude. She is passionate about empowering young people and children to realise the power of their unique and collective voice in creating positive change.
Rachel has delivered multiple programmes with a wide range of international organisations, from directing a seven month creative program with a group of young refugees, to leading a video project in Java with the local community to support their dream to share their unique culture and history.
Having delivered six NCS programmes across the UK, taught English as a foreign language in academies in Spain, summer schools and refugee camps, Rachel is keen to direct her facilitation skills and love for working with young people towards managing Run Grateful’s WeAreNext youth programme.
As someone who is at the beginning of her running journey, Rachel has found that connecting running with gratitude not only motivates her to keep going, but boosts her mood and helps her shift her perspective onto the positive things in her life. Rachel is excited to spread Run Grateful’s impact to young people globally, and contribute to improving the mental and physical wellbeing of our communities.
Fun Facts: Rachel has climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro and founded a roller disco society in Leeds called ‘Roll n beats’.
André Graver
Run Grateful Videographer/Editor
Health and fitness is a key area in my own life.
Run Grateful brings a new twist to what can sometimes feel like a routine run. I believe being grateful starts with recognising my own areas of fulfilment and taking that to my workout sessions.
I look forward to helping others recognise their own sense of gratitude on their next run.
