How social enterprise changes lives - Mark Watt AM of Whitelion

Mark Watt AM is the Co-Founder & Director of Development at Whitelion. With a wealth of experience across not-for-profit organisations for well over 20 years, he’s also a sitting Board Member of The First Step Program, Surrender Australia, and St Kilda Gatehouse. Mark’s work has been recognised with numerous awards, including a Membership in the Order of Australia (AM). Whitelion is a not-for-profit that provides transition services to young people exiting the justice system. Working with these high-risk youth showed Whitelion that the primary risk factors for youth offending were being placed in the Out-of-Home Care system and being homeless, leading to a broadening of services or programs to address these key factors. My attention was brought to Mark’s work back in 2014 when joining IBISWorld and learning that the founder Phil Ruthven was a board member of Whitelion. Each year we would take clients to the annual AFL Finals Series Luncheon, learn about the stories of high-risk youth, and what Whitelion had done for them. The events were so impactful that two of my former clients ended up joining the mentorship program at Whitelion. The work that organisations like Whitelion do is admirable  and incredibly important for certain groups of the population, a true testament to the character of people like Mark.