BIO

Mark came to Reno when he was three months old so his dad could study journalism on the GI Bill at the University of Nevada. It wasn’t his decision but it worked out.

He spent some 35 years as an award-winning advertising agency principal/creative director/writer, arts advocate and civic leader. His clients included Harrah’s Hotels & Casinos, International Game Technology, Washoe Health System/Hometown Health, the University of Nevada, Heritage Bank of Nevada and many others. He then took on two subsequent clients as a consulting creative director: Kampgrounds of America and the historic La Fonda Hotel in Santa Fe, NM.

He was a founding member of Reno’s first arts commission (C.I.T.Y 2000), conceived and co-founded America’s largest visual and performing arts festival, Artown, has won civic and creative awards at all levels, and has published two books: RENO: A FABLED CITY FINDS IT SOUL and ONE OF A KIND: The people and places that make Reno The Biggest Little City in the World.

Mark lives in one of Reno’s historic homes with his wife Valerie and son Henry. He also has two grown daughters: Britt, who lives in Reno and founded the Holland Project, and Johanna who lives in Seattle. He is also the proud grandfather of Theo and Miles, Britt and her partner Tim Conder’s sons.