Mark Lugg
I started my career as a data engineer — building data warehouses from scratch, writing SQL, designing ETL pipelines. The technical grounding matters, because it means I understand what's actually possible.
But the longer I spent in data, the more I understood that the real constraint was never the technology. The organisations making progress were the ones where a leader had decided data mattered and created the conditions for it to be used well.
That gap — between technical capability and business leadership — is what eventually drew me into strategic roles, and later into founding CJ Chase Business Solutions in 2019.
Since then I've worked at the very top of the scale — leading $15M programmes at AstraZeneca, helping create nationally embedded data products at the Met Office — and at the other end, helping a single person cut a day's manual work down to five minutes. I bring the same quality of thinking to both.
I'm currently pursuing an MBA at the Open University, having completed my Postgraduate Certificate in Business Administration with Distinction — formalising 20 years of applied learning with a structured academic framework.
Credentials
Based in Somerset
Working with organisations across the UK and internationally. Remote-first with on-site availability.
mark.lugg@CJChaseBusinessSolutions.comThe journey: 2004 → present
Started career building data warehouses from scratch — ETL pipelines, SQL, dimensional modelling.
Built reporting layers for financial services and retail clients. First exposure to the gap between data that exists and data that's trusted.
Moved into architecture and team leadership. First time managing a data function rather than just contributing to one.
Transitioned into programme management. Leading cross-functional data transformation programmes in energy and legal sectors.
Established independent practice. Working with organisations from SME to enterprise on data strategy, programme delivery, and transformation.
Led the delivery of national data products embedded in public and private sector infrastructure.
Led two concurrent $15M programmes. Insourced 202 roles, scaled the analytics function to 250+, delivered $62M in projected savings a year early.
Pursuing MBA to formalise 20 years of applied learning with structured academic rigour. Completed PG Certificate with Distinction.