Mark Oakley is a British Church of England priest. He is Dean of Southwark and formerly Dean of St John's College, Cambridge. Early life Oakley was born on 28 September 1968 in Shrewsbury and was educated at Shrewsbury School, where he was awarded a Rank Foundation Leadership Award, and King's College London, before going to St Stephen's House, Oxford, where he studied for ordination in the Church of England. He was duly made deacon at Petertide 1993 (27 June) at St Paul's Cathedral and ordained priest the next Petertide (2 July 1994) at St John's Wood Church — both times by David Hope, Bishop of London. Ministry Oakley served as assistant curate of St John's Wood Church from 1993 to 1996. He was then asked by Richard Chartres, Bishop of London, to serve as his chaplain, which he did from 1996 to 2000. He was made a Deputy Priest in Ordinary to Elizabeth II in 1996. In 2000, he became Rector of St Paul's, Covent Garden (also known as the Actors' Church). In 2005, the Bishop of Gibraltar in Europe, Geoffrey Rowell, appointed Oakley as Archdeacon of Germany and Northern Europe and chaplain of St Alban's Church in Copenhagen. The archdeaconry comprises eight countries (Iceland, Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Norway, Latvia, Estonia and Germany) in which there are many Church of England chaplaincies serving the international Anglican community. In 2008 he was appointed priest-in-charge of Grosvenor Chapel, Mayfair, London, by the Bishop of London. He was also appointed an examining chaplain and bishops' advisor. In June 2010 he was appointed to St Paul's Cathedral, London, as a residentiary canon, initially as Canon Treasurer. In 2013, he became Canon Chancellor; in that role he was responsible for educational work and engagement with the arts.