“Learning to believe you are magnificent. And gradually to discover that you are not magnificent. Enough labor for one human life.” ― Czesław Miłosz
Mark (pic taken June 2020)
BUSINESS/ CAREER
I've held senior team-leader – and always hybrid (internal fused with external) – positions / roles with 6 organizations in the San Francisco Bay Area, all either young or brand-new small branch offices of a larger organization, or, new or established businesses launched by 1st-time entrepreneurs who left big employers to go solo. They include: a RDBMS/ SQL company; a staffing/ recruitment firm; an advertising company, and, 3 boutique law firms.
My roles have handled and overseen the operations of HR, IT, legal, accounting, knowledge management, vendor relations, project management, websites and social media, landlord relations, customer service, sales, collections, telecommunications, banking, marketing/ new business development, purchasing, meetings & travel arrangements, and insurance/ risk monitoring. AND, juggling such internal operations/ administration alongside helping execute the external mission: getting a product or service to market.
My INTERNAL roles and accomplishments have included: 5x an operations lead or co-lead; 4x a HR lead; 4x an 'intra'preneur leading the start-up of new business units, branch offices or departments; and, 1x an employee #1.
My EXTERNAL roles and accomplishments have included: 15x+ a co-lead/ team-member helping clients with new business entity (LLC) establishments and LLC ownership/ management structuring, etc.; 3x a lead or co-lead of office re-locations; and, 5x a production lead of cable TV commercials for local small and "mom & pop" businesses.
The crown jewel of my EXTERNAL roles and accomplishments has been service on legal advocacy teams helping individual employees (including 3 public company CEOs, at least 7 private company CEOs, over 20 CFOs, COOs and SVPs, plus scores of scientists, founders, salespeople, attorneys, IT personnel, HR directors, administrative assistants, and others) assert their claims against some of the biggest names in:
social media; electric cars; VR; cell phones; biotech; vaping; enterprise software; multimedia software; networking equipment; on-line auctioning; e-commerce; on-line payments; medical devices; billionaire "family offices"; flash memory products; SaaS; semiconductors; VCs; games; telecommunications; mobile applications; and search engines.
As a result, I've enjoyed a "backstage pass" to 120+ Silicon Valley lawyered-up & HR-up’d employee off-boards (usually contentious) and on-boards (usually more civil), involving many iconic companies providing the products and services listed above and their hired guns (all cunning legal and HR minds), and, a few involving direct reports to:
Tim Cook, Larry Ellison, Patrick Soon-Shiong, Eric Schmidt, Palmer Luckey, and Michael Novogratz, as well as direct reports to members of Jeff Bezos' & Elon Musk's C-suite inner circles.
EDUCATION
I hold a Master of Journalism from the University of California -- Berkeley (UCB). Click here to go to my full profile on the UCB Graduate School of Journalism website. (Prior to and while earning my master's degree, I had 50+ articles/ news stories published in 4 news outlets, including one in Washington DC. During the course of my news reporting career, I had the privilege to interview hundreds of people from all walks of life, including scientists, politicians, community organizers, labor union reps, CEOs, an iconic actress, authors, university professors and administrators, law enforcement officers, and, Admiral Bobby Ray Inman [perhaps the most renowned former director of the National Security Agency, or NSA].)
I hold a Bachelor of Arts in Liberal Studies from the University of California -- Santa Barbara (UCSB), where I primarily studied East European history, the Latin language, and the works of William Shakespeare. (While at UCSB, I was honored to have been mentored for most of an academic year by a visiting professor from Hungary, Géza Jeszenszky, who later became his country's Minister of Foreign Affairs and then Ambassador to the United States.)
ROOTS
I was born and raised in two suburbs (Springdale, and then Wyoming) north of Cincinnati, OH. In my teens I was a member of the Wyoming middle school and high school varsity football, track & field, and wrestling teams. Growing up, I also spent a lot of time visiting family in Springboro and Centerville, two then rural communities outside of Dayton, OH.
According to my 23andMe results, genetically I am 99.3% European, with my ancestors hailing from: Poland (Podkarpackie and Podlaskie); Ukraine (Lviv and Ivano-Frankivsk); Switzerland (Bern and Zurich); and Germany (Baden-Württemberg and Bavaria).
TRAVELS
My travels have included 30+ U.S. states, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, the U.K., Netherlands, Belgium, France, Spain, Portugal, Germany (including East Berlin, before reunification), Austria, and Italy.
PERSONAL
In my spare time I frequent my local Planet Fitness branch as well as my home gym for cardio and strength training, and am a virtual congregant of the Fellowship of St. Theophan the Recluse and student of Father Andrew Jarmus.
I've held senior team-leader – and always hybrid (internal fused with external) – positions / roles with 6 organizations in the San Francisco Bay Area, all either young or brand-new small branch offices of a larger organization, or, new or established businesses launched by 1st-time entrepreneurs who left big employers to go solo. They include: a RDBMS/ SQL company; a staffing/ recruitment firm; an advertising company, and, 3 boutique law firms.
My roles have handled and overseen the operations of HR, IT, legal, accounting, knowledge management, vendor relations, project management, websites and social media, landlord relations, customer service, sales, collections, telecommunications, banking, marketing/ new business development, purchasing, meetings & travel arrangements, and insurance/ risk monitoring. AND, juggling such internal operations/ administration alongside helping execute the external mission: getting a product or service to market.
My INTERNAL roles and accomplishments have included: 5x an operations lead or co-lead; 4x a HR lead; 4x an 'intra'preneur leading the start-up of new business units, branch offices or departments; and, 1x an employee #1.
My EXTERNAL roles and accomplishments have included: 15x+ a co-lead/ team-member helping clients with new business entity (LLC) establishments and LLC ownership/ management structuring, etc.; 3x a lead or co-lead of office re-locations; and, 5x a production lead of cable TV commercials for local small and "mom & pop" businesses.
The crown jewel of my EXTERNAL roles and accomplishments has been service on legal advocacy teams helping individual employees (including 3 public company CEOs, at least 7 private company CEOs, over 20 CFOs, COOs and SVPs, plus scores of scientists, founders, salespeople, attorneys, IT personnel, HR directors, administrative assistants, and others) assert their claims against some of the biggest names in:
social media; electric cars; VR; cell phones; biotech; vaping; enterprise software; multimedia software; networking equipment; on-line auctioning; e-commerce; on-line payments; medical devices; billionaire "family offices"; flash memory products; SaaS; semiconductors; VCs; games; telecommunications; mobile applications; and search engines.
As a result, I've enjoyed a "backstage pass" to 120+ Silicon Valley lawyered-up & HR-up’d employee off-boards (usually contentious) and on-boards (usually more civil), involving many iconic companies providing the products and services listed above and their hired guns (all cunning legal and HR minds), and, a few involving direct reports to:
Tim Cook, Larry Ellison, Patrick Soon-Shiong, Eric Schmidt, Palmer Luckey, and Michael Novogratz, as well as direct reports to members of Jeff Bezos' & Elon Musk's C-suite inner circles.
EDUCATION
I hold a Master of Journalism from the University of California -- Berkeley (UCB). Click here to go to my full profile on the UCB Graduate School of Journalism website. (Prior to and while earning my master's degree, I had 50+ articles/ news stories published in 4 news outlets, including one in Washington DC. During the course of my news reporting career, I had the privilege to interview hundreds of people from all walks of life, including scientists, politicians, community organizers, labor union reps, CEOs, an iconic actress, authors, university professors and administrators, law enforcement officers, and, Admiral Bobby Ray Inman [perhaps the most renowned former director of the National Security Agency, or NSA].)
I hold a Bachelor of Arts in Liberal Studies from the University of California -- Santa Barbara (UCSB), where I primarily studied East European history, the Latin language, and the works of William Shakespeare. (While at UCSB, I was honored to have been mentored for most of an academic year by a visiting professor from Hungary, Géza Jeszenszky, who later became his country's Minister of Foreign Affairs and then Ambassador to the United States.)
ROOTS
I was born and raised in two suburbs (Springdale, and then Wyoming) north of Cincinnati, OH. In my teens I was a member of the Wyoming middle school and high school varsity football, track & field, and wrestling teams. Growing up, I also spent a lot of time visiting family in Springboro and Centerville, two then rural communities outside of Dayton, OH.
According to my 23andMe results, genetically I am 99.3% European, with my ancestors hailing from: Poland (Podkarpackie and Podlaskie); Ukraine (Lviv and Ivano-Frankivsk); Switzerland (Bern and Zurich); and Germany (Baden-Württemberg and Bavaria).
TRAVELS
My travels have included 30+ U.S. states, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, the U.K., Netherlands, Belgium, France, Spain, Portugal, Germany (including East Berlin, before reunification), Austria, and Italy.
PERSONAL
In my spare time I frequent my local Planet Fitness branch as well as my home gym for cardio and strength training, and am a virtual congregant of the Fellowship of St. Theophan the Recluse and student of Father Andrew Jarmus.