Mark has been a leadership advocate for over twenty-five years. He started his leadership journey in 4H and FFA, serving in various roles, including president of his local FFA chapter.

After graduating high school, he attended Modesto Junior College where he was involved in several leadership groups, including MJC’s agriculture ambassadors, MJC Young Farmers, and the Collegiate Agriculture Leaders (CAL) organization, where he served two terms as a California state officer. He also got his first taste of agricultural policy as an intern for the Stanislaus County Farm Bureau during that time.

Mark then transferred to Kansas State University and served in the College of Agriculture Ambassadors executive cabinet as their diversity coordinator, focusing on sharing the country’s agricultural diversity with the college. He was also the student council representative for the Agricultural Communicators of Tomorrow (ACT) club on campus.

Mark also spent a year as a national student advisor for the Agriculture Future of America (AFA) organization, based in Kansas City, Missouri. He and his team developed student programming, which included a national conference, as well as served as national representatives for the organization while meeting with industry partners and government officials across the United States.

Since his return to the farm in 2015, Mark has been active and involved in the Agriculture Future of America Alliance, the organization’s alumni group that provides programming and lifelong learning opportunities to AFA alumni. He currently serves as the vice chair on the National AFA Alliance Advisory Council, the AFA Alliance’s governing body, and gives back to their collegiate programs by participating in events, career roundtable discussions, and mentorship programs.

He is also an agricultural policy advocate and has been an active member of the California Farm Bureau since 2016, having served as chair of the Stanislaus County Young Farmers & Ranchers from 2019-21 and on the California Young Farmers & Ranchers committee from 2021-23. He was also a graduate of their 2021 Leadership Farm Bureau program. He currently serves as a member of the Stanislaus County Farm Bureau board of directors.

Mark’s previous work experience includes international public relations firms Ketchum Inc. in Los Angeles, CA, and FleishmanHillard in Dallas, TX, working with agricultural clients such as the Keystone Alliance for Sustainable Agriculture, Dow AgroSciences, the Council for Biotechnology Information, Chevrolet Texas, the California Milk Advisory Board (for which he won Ketchum’s Headliner Award for media relations excellence), the US Farmers & Ranchers Alliance and the James Moll documentary “Farmland.” He also participated in the International Farm Youth Exchange (IFYE) program, living and working on farms in Scotland, Northern Ireland, Wales and England in 2013. 

Mark received his bachelor’s degree in agricultural communications & journalism from Kansas State University and his associate degree in agriculture science from Modesto Junior College. He is a lifetime member of the Agriculture Future of America Alliance, a member of the Stanislaus County Farm Bureau, and the Kansas State University Alumni Association.

He farms walnuts with his family in Modesto, CA.