Senior Advisor to the Executive Committee

Mark has over 40 years of experience in the financial markets and new venture development. In his most recent role Mark served as the Director of the FirePoint Applied Innovation Center (AIC). The AIC is a dedicated prototyping, collaboration, and evaluation facility located in Huntsville Alabama focused on accelerating innovation and technology adoption within the U.S. Army and other branches of the military. The primary mission of the ACI is to identify, develop, and integrate cutting-edge technologies and solutions into the Army's operational capabilities. Prior to his role in FirePoint Mark served as the Director of Wichita State University's Center for Entrepreneurship and Director of Wichita State University's Center for Entrepreneurship and Director of WSU Ventures. In this role Mark was responsible for the creation and advancement of an innovation ecosystem to support the development of early-stage startups founded by local entrepreneurs as well as technology owned by the university. Mark is an experienced innovation manager with demonstrated expertise in both entrepreneurial and large corporate environments. Before coming to Wichita State, Mark served as President of TriLinc Global helping to launch the firm and its flagship TriLinc Global Impact Fund, currently a $750 million social impact investment fund. Prior to TriLinc Mark co-founded Allegiance Capital in 1989, a private investment firm that grew to manage over $5.5 billion for institutional and private wealth clients. In 2008 he negotiated the sale of Allegiance Capital to Macquarie Bank and served as a Managing Director and board member of the Macquarie Funds Group for three years following the sale. Prior to forming Allegiance Capital, Mark held various positions with Govaars & Associates, a botique institutional investment firm, and with Security Pacific Bank. He has extensive financial services industry background in investment portfolio management and administration, asset management, mutual funds, credit oversight and private equity management. Mark holds a B.A. with a major in Marketing from Wichita State University and an MBA in Finance from Northwestern University, Kellog School of Management. Mark is a Member of the National Advisory Council at Wichita State University and served two terms on the Investment Committee for the Wichita State University Foundation.