Plenary Sessions

Mark’s career in floodplain management got an early start while still an undergrad at the University of Wisconsin’s College of Civil Engineering. He was working part-time for the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources to earn enough to pay his for tuition and books when he met both Larry Larson and Tom Lee. Tom asked him to write a computer program to analyze the increase in BFE caused by an encroachment into a floodway. That was the start of a long career in floodplain management.

Mark spent the 1978-1989 as Larry Larson’s Assistant Chief of the Wisconsin DNR’s Dam Safety/Floodplain Management Section where he supported Larry’s efforts to get the ASFPM up and running. For much of that period Mark chaired ASFPM’s Mapping & Engineering Standards Committee.

Mark returned to the private sector in 1989 to work for SEH but stayed engaged in ASFPM and helped Dave Fowler get WAFSCM started. One of Mark’s most personally rewarding experiences was to be honored to represent the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) on the Technical Mapping Advisory Council (TMAC) authorized by the 1994 Flood Insurance Reform Act. Mark served as the Chair of TMAC the entire five years of its existence from 1995-2000.

In 2002 Mark accepted Larry’s offer to work as ASFPM’s first “project-manager” but his time with ASFPM was short-lived. In 2004  Michael Baker International  enticed him to head up their new office in Seattle to serve as the Lead for the Regional Management Center for FEMA Region X to implement MapMOD.

FEMA RX hired Mark to serve as Chief, Floodplain Management & Insurance Branch in 2008 where he served until his retirement in 2014.

Subsequent to Mark’s retirement from FEMA he started a small consulting business to assist French & Associates undertake the Chehalis River Basin (Washington) Flood Plain Management Study and supported Molly O’Toole & Associates with the Data Collection Project for the Community Rating System (CRS).

Mark was appointed to the Certification Board of Regents (CBOR) in 2014 and served until 2020 including as 4 years as President.

Prior to his retirement  Mark was credentialed as:

• Professional Engineer (PE) in Wisconsin, Iowa, Minnesota and Michigan
• A Registered Land Surveyor (RLS) in Wisconsin
• A Certified Floodplain Manager (CFM)

Publications:

• NATO Advanced Research Workshop, Coping with Floods-Lessons Learned from Recent Experience. Malenovice, Czech Republic, May 1999
• Technical Mapping Advisory Council Final Report to FEMA, November 2000
• Technical Mapping Advisory Council Annual Reports to FEMA, 1996-2000
• Technical Consultant: Elevated Residential Structures, American Institute of Architects Foundation, 1984
• Contributor: Design Guidelines for Flood Damage Reduction, American Institute of Architects Research Foundation, 1981