Mark Carruthers OBE joined BBC Northern Ireland in 1989 and since then he has presented countless radio and television programmes. He currently presents the award-winning flagship radio current affairs programme Good Morning Ulster and his television commitments include Spotlight Special and BBC Newsline.

Mark has presented special television reports for BBC Newsline from India and Sri Lanka and in June 2007 he was a guest speaker at an international conference on journalism and conflict resolution in Colombia.

He was nominated for a Royal Television Society award for his work in 2003 and in 2005 he and Donna Traynor lifted a prestigious Irish Film and Television Award for Best News Programme.

Mark studied political science at Queen's University Belfast, graduating in 1987. In 1989 he was awarded a Master's degree in Irish politics.

Beyond politics Mark is a passionate advocate of the arts. He is the chairman of the board of the Lyric Theatre in Belfast.

He is also a former chairman of Tinderbox Theatre Company and has served on the boards of the Old Museum Arts Centre and the Ireland Romania Cultural Foundation.

He is co-editor, with Stephen Douds, of Stepping Stones: The Arts in Ulster 1971-2001 which was published by Blackstaff Press in autumn 2001. He is a founder of the arts lobby group Cultural Resolution which published a collection of essays - Re-imagining Belfast: a manifesto for the arts - in October 2003.

Married with three children, he lives in South Belfast.