Mark obtained his Bachelor’s in Chemistry from the University of Kentucky in 1984 and a Ph.D. in Analytical Chemistry from the University of Florida in1988. While at the University of Kentucky, Mark started his research career with F. James Holler, who sparked Mark’s interest in the development of computer-controlled analytical instrumentation. From there, Mark went on to obtain his graduate degree from the University of Florida, where he worked with Richard A. Yost on triple quadrupole mass spectrometry, atmospheric pressure ionization source design, ion-molecule reactions, and high-speed, short-column gas chromatography techniques. In 1989, Mark joined Finnigan Corporation in San Jose, CA (now Thermo Scientific) and worked as an R&D scientist toward the development and introduction of new electrospray ionization sources, triple quadrupole tandem mass spectrometers, and emerging applications of biomolecule LC/MS. In 1994, Mark joined Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMS) in Princeton, New Jersey, where he was responsible for the development and implementation of new mass spectrometry technology as part of a multidisciplinary research analytical group. A central theme of the research done at BMS was the development of automated methods for the characterization of biological drug targets and products, as well as synthetic organic compounds and their impurities, degradants, and metabolites. In January 2000, Mark co-founded Novatia with three other partners and currently serves as President of the company. Novatia is a small contract research organization that collaborates with clients in the biopharmaceutical and life science industries to provide analytical service spanning routine MS and NMR to highly detailed structure elucidation. Novatia has also developed products that have been refined due to their own need to efficiently analyze client samples. These include ProMass Deconvolution software and the Oligo HTCS LCMS systems for high-throughput oligonucleotide analysis.