Born and raised in Rochester, New York, Mark received his BS degree in Finance (Magna Cum Laude) from Boston College and an MBA in Marketing from Tulane University. He joined IBM in 1981 as an office product Sales Associate and received many awards including Rookie Of the Year in the Southern Region in 1982 and Golden Circle awards in 1988 and 1993. Prior to his voluntary departure at IBM, he was an Advisory Agent Territory Manager that provided guidance, education and marketing leadership to agent territory firms in helping them represent and sell IBM products and services. Mark voluntarily left IBM in February 1994 and helped formed Communiqué, a New Orleans based Internet Service Provider (ISP).
As one of its founding members and President of the company, Communiqué quickly became the Gulf South’s largest and most respected and profitable ISP’s in the area building a cliThe primary mission of the LTC to assist with the technological development of individuals and member organizations by providing programs, events, organizational support and otheent based of over 10,000 users focusing on small to medium size businesses. In the latter part of 1997, Verio, a national ISP, purchased Communiqué.
Mark left Verio a year later and formed EyeOnet, which provided local businesses with Web development, Internet sales and marketing consulting services. In April 2000, EyeOnet merged with two other businesses to form a full service network and Internet services company called Orange Twine. As Chairman and Director or Marketing and Business Development for Orange Twine, Mark was primarily involved with its overall corporate direction, including the marketing and promotion of Orange Twine services. In November of 2000, Orange Twine was chosen by the New Orleans Chamber of Commerce as the Rising Tide Small Business of the Year in Technology. In January 2001, AIR2LAN, an Internet broadband and high-speed wireless connectivity firm based in Jackson, Mississippi, acquired Orange Twine. Mark became General Manager of Access Services for AIR2LAN in New Orleans and was responsible for the implementation of wireless and network support services. In late 2001, Mark left AIR2LAN and began consulting with various companies and became acting President of Integrated Data Systems, a network services and integration firm. In October of 2002, Mark assumed the role of President of the Louisiana Technology Council (LTC). r value added services that contribute to their competitiveness and growth, and which leads to the economic development of the metropolitan New Orleans area and State of Louisiana.
Panel # 2: Emerging Technologies
One of Louisiana’s current, strong growth areas is information technology. Some of the most dramatic local growth has been at the Navy Information Technology Center. Similar growth is expected at the National Finance Center over the next several years. The panelists will discuss these success stories and the lessons learned.