Mark Pollock is an international motivational speaker that focuses on collaborating and building resilience. He is also an innovator, author, explorer, and collaboration catalyst from Ireland. He is well-known for being the first blind person to race to the South Pole. An avid rower Pollock has won bronze and silver medals at the 2002 Commonwealth Rowing Championships in Nottingham, England.

Pollock enrolled in a course to help him come to terms with his disability. He engaged in other athletic pursuits, including running six marathons in seven days with a sighted partner across the Gobi Desert, China in 2003 when he raised tens of thousands of euros for the charity Sights avers International. 

He took 43 days in January 2009 to complete the Amundsen Omega 3 South Pole Race. He had participated against nine other teams, including that of BBC personality Ben Fogle and the Olympic gold medalist James Cracknell. Pollock asserted his disability had slowed him down but they finished fifth overall from the six teams that finished the race. Pollock also wrote a book entitled Making It Happen.