Mark Drakeford (born 19 September 1954) is a Welsh politician who has served as Cabinet Secretary for Finance since September 2024, having previously held the position from 2016 to 2018. He previously served as First Minister of Wales and Leader of Welsh Labour from 2018 to 2024, and as Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care from 2013 to 2016, and on an interim basis in 2024. He was first elected as the Member of the Senedd (MS) for Cardiff West in 2011 and is considered to be on the soft left of Labour.

Drakeford was born in Carmarthen in West Wales. He studied Latin at the University of Kent and the University of Exeter. He was a lecturer at the University College of Swansea from 1991 to 1995 and at Cardiff University from 1995 to 1999. He was a Professor of Social Policy and Applied Social Sciences at Cardiff University from 2003 to 2013. Drakeford was elected at the 2011 National Assembly for Wales election for Cardiff West. In 2013, First Minister Carwyn Jones appointed Drakeford to the Welsh Government as Minister for Health and Social Services. He served as Cabinet Secretary for Finance from 2016 to 2018 and as Minister for Brexit from 2017 to 2018. In 2018, he was elected to succeed Jones as Welsh Labour Leader and First Minister.

He led the Welsh Government’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic. In the 2021 Senedd election, Drakeford led Welsh Labour to win 30 seats, a working majority, and was reappointed as First Minister. Drakeford resigned as Welsh Labour Leader and First Minister in March 2024 and was succeeded by his Health Minister Vaughan Gething. Drakeford spent the duration of Gething's premiership on the backbenches before making a return to government as Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care under First Minister Eluned Morgan in August 2024.

Mark Drakeford was born on 19 September 1954 in Carmarthenshire, West Wales, where he was brought up. His formative years were spent in a politically engaged environment, with Drakeford later observing that politics was "part of the fabric of life in 1960s Carmarthenshire". He has stated that he was "always Labour", developing the belief that "a person's ties to the economy are the great determining factor in their life chances".

His political consciousness developed early, and by the age of 14, Drakeford had become a republican, a conviction that remained with him throughout his political career. According to some sources, his parents were John Drakeford, a teacher, and Mary Drakeford, a nurse, whose care-based professions helped shape his social awareness and compassion. He grew up bilingual, speaking both Welsh and English.

He was educated at Queen Elizabeth Grammar School, then an all-boys grammar school in Carmarthen. He went on to study Latin at the University of Kent, before gaining a B.Phil. from the University of Exeter and returning to Wales to complete a PhD.

After university, Drakeford trained both as a teacher and as a social worker. He moved to Cardiff in 1979 and worked as a probation officer and youth justice worker until 1991.

Drakeford served as a Barnardo's project leader in the Ely and Caerau areas of Cardiff. During the 1980s, Ely faced significant social deprivation, with unemployment exceeding 30% and high levels of crime. ^{[citation needed]}