Mark was born and raised on the shores of Lake Erie in western New York State. He has two adult children - daughter Molly Ellen who is currently testing life on various pacific islands and son Liam O'Neill a student-athlete at the University of California at Santa Barbara. Liam is also a city lifeguard and a county emergency management technician (EMT).

 

After working as a human resource administrator with the Fluor Corporation in Saudi Arabia and Irvine, Mark finished his MBA studies at Pepperdine University and broke off to form the Genesee Group. This endeavor was Mark's first step into the Public Affairs arena, an arena that first touched Mark as a child. In 1988, Mark was hired by San Diego Gas and Electric to help protect their interests against an initiative by Southern California Edison to take over valuable service territory in south Orange County. After defeating the Edison initiative and working through the failed purchase of SDG&E - also by Edison, Mark designed and implemented a program to establish the SDG&E brand in south Orange County.

 

Following the merger of the parent companies of SDG&E and The Gas Company, and the formation of Sempra Energy, Mark lead the Regional Public Affairs team in Orange, Los Angeles and San Bernardino Counties.

 

Mark is proud to have held leadership positions for more than two dozen non-profit and political organizations. Mark is the immediate past chairman of the Bolsa Chica Conservancy and is leading their initiative to build the Center for Coastal Ecology, a $10M restorative interpretive facility on Harriett Wieder Regional Park in Huntington Beach.

 

Upon "retirement" from Sempra, Mark restarted the Genesee Group. Today the Genesee Group looks to develop and enhance communities through partnerships with and between local/regional governments and business.