Mark Blaxill (Vice President and Director, Safe Minds)

Mark Blaxill is the father of a daughter diagnosed with autism and Vice President of SafeMinds. He spent most of his professional career at The Boston Consulting Group (BCG), where he was a Senior Vice President until he left the firm in 2006. While at BCG he was the leader of the firm’s Strategy Practice and led firm initiatives in the area of globalization, open source software, intellectual property and network analysis. He has had wide industry experience, including client assignments in information services, semiconductors, pharmaceuticals, consumer electronics, forest products, retailing and pulp and paper. He has worked on a wide range of business problems for CEOs and heads of strategy of Fortune 100 and Dow Jones index companies, including corporate portfolio strategy development, business unit strategy, strategic planning process development, research and development strategies and process reengineering. He is currently writing a book on the subject of intellectual property strategies for business and launching a new business venture. He is a named inventor on BCG’s first ever patent application.

He holds an MBA from Harvard Business School with distinction and a bachelor’s degree in international affairs from Princeton University where he graduated summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa. He is also the author of several publications on autism: including "What's going on? The question of time trends in autism" (Public Health Reports, 2004); "Reduced mercury levels in first baby haircuts of autistic children" (International Journal of Toxicology, 2003); and "Thimerosal and autism? a plausible hypothesis that should not be dismissed." (Medical Hypotheses, 2004). He has been a frequent speaker on autism related issues, including conference presentations for Neurotoxicology (August 2006), Defeat Autism Now! (May 2001, October 2006), Autism One (May 2004, 2005 and 2006), National Autism Association (November 2005), NIEHS (August 2005) and the Institute of Medicine Immunization Safety Review (July 2001). He is married to Elise and has two children, Sydney and Michaela. He lives in Cambridge Massachusetts.