Mark was raised in Marvell Arkansas, population 1,998. It was a typical small town where everyone knew you each other. Like many small towns, the days were filled with riding bikes, swimming and playing outdoors. Mark stayed busy playing little league baseball (All Star), football (All Conference), basketball, Boy Scouts (Eagle Scout) and working at his dad’s car dealership. After graduating high school, he attended the University of Arkansas and earned his MBA and a Bachelors degree in Marketing. To help finance his studies, Mark held part-time jobs at the Sigma Chi house, an auto parts store and an advertising agency. When he was not studying, working or calling-the-hogs, he could be found with his best friend who later became his wife.
When the good life of college was over, Mark and his wife moved to Houston, Texas. It was during his early sales career that he learned sound selling fundamentals that have stayed with him throughout his selling career. Mark spent 13 years with Dun & Bradstreet Software (formerly MSA) as a sales representative, branch manager and district sales manager covering South Texas, Louisiana and Arkansas, where he consistently exceeded sales goals. Mark was recruited to join a small Silicon Valley start-up called OnDisplay to sell its new products and to build a sales team. During the next 4 years OnDisplay grew from almost zero annual revenue to $80M when it was acquired by Vignette. Mark recruited and trained over 40 direct sales, 12 inside sales and 5 managers to lead the company’s high revenue growth, IPO and subsequent acquisition. He is fortunate to have worked with such a committed, passionate and professional team while at OnDisplay.
Mark joined Softface, another start-up company based in California. Once again faced with selling new products into new markets, Mark used his expertise to attract new customers and build a sales team. Attracting an impressive list of early customers and strategic partners, Softface was acquired by Ariba. Mark joined Descartes Systems Group to help rebuild a global sales force, improve partner relations and increase customer confidence. His time with Descartes resulted in quarter over quarter revenue and backlog growth. He also was actively involved in closing key global wins and implementing a global sales methodology. Mark has a reputation of selling and executing with a sense of urgency, energy, professionalism and integrity.
Mark was fortunate to have taken time off from work to spend with his wife and three sons. During his time off he has traveled back to Arkansas to visit family, Colorado and New Hampshire to visit sons at school and several great ski trips. Mark is currently using his expertise at GE Intelligent Platforms (formerly SmartSignal) where he is responsible for the Oil & Gas sales in The Americas and Europe.
