Mark was born in Saskatchewan on a small farm where he learned the value of community engagement & support. At the University of Saskatchewan he became involved with the community that formed from the student body where he developed life-long personal & professional connections. Among other things, Mark worked at the University radio station and graduated with an advanced degree in biochemistry. He then moved to Edmonton where he worked at the University of Alberta in an elite selection of public|private labs, Including the J.S. McEachern Canadian Cancer Society labs, the Mike James X-ray crystallography lab, and ChembioMed Ltd, a private biomedical start up formed on Campus.
Mark’s resume is long and complex, but one of the early highlights was Myrias Research Corporation, a company started by one of his long term colleagues where they built the world’s first parallel supercomputer and brought millions of investment dollars into Alberta, mostly from U.S. sources. Mark has worked in a number of exiting and innovative technology start-ups and has considerable experience attacking large and difficult problems with software, firmware, and computer hardware. He also has something of a flair for mechanical design. Much of his work has been in the leading edge of various technological niches.
Currently he is trying to break into the construction industry bubble with building envelope manufacturing productivity software. This software was used to build the iconic Calgary Climbing Center’s facility in Canada Olympic Park in Calgary, and was the subject of a nomination for a 2020 CanBIM Innovation award. In a completely unrelated market, Mark is also trying to expand the reach of the bicycle, especially ebikes, to include a much larger segment of the population, by making them more comfortable, using a seat design that he holds a patent on. His preliminary reading about Wayfinders Business Cooperative suggests it holds opportunities to connect with like-minded people in Alberta and possibly gain access to resources that are crucial to the continued success of his life-mission. Mark also wants to see if there are ways he can give back, with a view to strengthening the Alberta Economy and establishing a non-resource based life for its citizens.
– Welcome to WBC Mark!
