It is with heavy hearts that we announce the passing of our CEO and Founder, Mark Johnson, who died on Christmas Day 2025. As was his style, Mark had been quietly and determinedly dealing with cancer for the last five years. Despite this, he remained involved in the business right until the very end. Mark could fix almost anything, but sadly, not this.

Mark was one of the four original founders of Stage One Creative Services Limited in 1996, alongside Jim Tinsley, Simon Wood & Simon Whittaker. From the outset this small but driven team took on projects that would still be challenging to deliver today. In 1999 Mark led the Self Portrait Zone at the Millennium Dome, and in 2004 came the Athens Olympic Ceremonies, a wildly ambitious combination of creative construction and cutting-edge automation which put the company well and truly onto a global stage.

Mark was central to winning our first Serpentine Pavilion commission in 2009, instrumental to our success at London Olympics 2012, sat two seats along from Putin at the rehearsals in Sochi 2014, directed the Hive in Milan in 2015 and the Founder’s Memorial in Abu Dhabi in 2017. Delivering just one of these projects would distinguish a career, yet Mark delivered all of these projects reliably and relentlessly, year in, year out. Whenever there was a project of significance or a new opportunity to embrace, Mark would always be at the heart of it.

Within the business, Mark moved to the role of MD in 2005 and focused on developing strategy, building a team for longevity and steady growth. In 2013, Mark’s contribution to enterprise was recognised at the highest level when he and Jim attended Buckingham Palace to take tea with the Queen as Stage One was awarded the Queen’s Award for Innovation.

No one who ever met Mark was left with any doubt about how smart he was. But he was never arrogant nor overbearing. He would listen to what others might think of a situation, often for hours, and then either borrow someone’s pen to sketch the solution in seconds or simply leave the conversation to go and get his tools, often fixing the issue whilst the rest of us were still arguing about it

Despite his evident intellect, Mark remained forever humble and grounded. He was never showy about his position in the organisation nor about what he had achieved. His standard response when asked on site what he did, Mark would turn around and simply say, ‘I work with these guys’. Being on site with him was a little like being in an episode of ‘Undercover Boss’. His disguise usually took the form of bleeding knuckles, torn shorts, and a light basting in hydraulic oil. His humility was enduring and came from a place of not wanting any fuss and simply having to get the job done.

He was particularly conscious that success in business presented him with an opportunity to support others. He was keen that individuals were not overlooked when significant contributions had been made. He was eager that colleagues experiencing hardship should be lent a hand. And he was sensitive to those experiencing illness or who were unsettled. There was a generosity to Mark that went almost completely unnoticed, yet many of us reading this will have felt the benefit of this warmth. He did it not out of pride, but simply out of decency and with the mindset of “There but for the Grace of God, go I”.

In all of the heartfelt responses to this sad ending, one phrase stands out consistently beyond all others. In dispatches Mark has been continually referred to as a ‘real gentleman’. The measure of the man was never in the situation, but in the way he reacted to the stress, the jeopardy, and the discord. He kept it all together for the sake of our team, and for the delivery of the project.

Mark has given more to this world than he has taken from it. And so, it is desperately hard to bring down the final curtain on a life so very well lived. But take comfort in that this is not the end. Mark leaves a lasting legacy into which we are all woven. And we shall go out into the world and honour it.