Mark received his undergraduate degree in Political Science and History and UNM. He is actively pursuing a Master's of Public Policy degree at UNM. Prior to working at UNM, Mark worked as a Department of Defense personnel security contactor, conducting Top Secret background investigations on federal clearance candidates with a team of 1,400 investigators all over the country. Mark has also conducted qualitative research working as a project assistant for Sandia Market Research and has also moonlighted as a freelance writer, editor and quality control specialist for the last three years. Mark is currently a Research Assistant working on the final evaluation of the Department of Labor's Trade Adjustment Assistance Community College and Career Training (TAACCCT) grant and implementation of the NM SUN PATH network.