Explorer, Keynote Speaker, Foreign Correspondent

 

World-renowned explorer, sought-after keynote speaker and critically acclaimed author, for three decades Mark Jenkins has been a foreign correspondent for National Geographic Magazine, Smithsonian and Outside Magazine among others. Taking on the most difficult and dangerous assignments, Jenkins will do “whatever it takes” to get the real story. He has been arrested in Afghanistan by the Tajik KGB and interrogated for a week; captured and held by the military junta in Burma; taken prisoner by the murderous Hutu guerillas in eastern Congo.

His Nat Geo feature “Who Murdered The Mountain Gorillas” won the National Magazine Award; his Nat Geo feature “The Healing Fields,” about landmines in Cambodia, won the Overseas Press Club Award. Jenkins climbed Everest the hard way, made the first exploration of the largest cave on earth in Vietnam, the first descent of the Niger River in West Africa, and is in the Guinness Book of World Records for the first crossing of Russia by bicycle.

As a keynote speaker, with humor and candor, using world-class National Geographic photography from his life-or-death experiences, Jenkins distills for audiences the hard-won lessons of successful leadership.

 

  • “Mark Jenkins purposefully goes out and taunts the gods. How he gets away with it is probably why he’s had 30 to 40 arrests---and no convictions.”

    Yvon Chouinard, founder of Patagonia

  • After serving almost 30 years in the US military and Federal Law Enforcement, I have met few people who come close to the breadth of experience that Mark Jenkins has had in dangerous and consequential environments. No one comes close to his unassuming and humble ability to share this with his audience. Despite his unique background, Mark's conclusions about the most important lessons learned about leadership are remarkably similar to those discussed among tactical professionals everywhere. If you are looking for fresh perspective, or even want to protect agains't group-think, it would be hard to find a better choice."

    Mike Andetta, FBI Special Agent

  • “Mark Jenkins is the global version of street-smart. He is an inquisitive, thinking explorer who leavens common sense with joie de vivre as he takes us into tight corners at the back of the world. He’s the real thing.”

    Pulitzer prize-winning author, Annie Proulx

Featured Video:

 

Produced for the National Geographic Channel based on the story by Mark Jenkins, “Who Murdered The Mountain Gorilla”