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Principal and dealmaker in scores of merger and acquisition transactions, in addition to completing numerous equity and debt financings, Mark knows well the challenges faced by CEOs and business owners in pursuit of accelerated growth, deal capital, acquisitions and profitable exits.
Prior to joining LudlowWard, Mark was Chairman & CEO of Atomic Dog Publishing, a venture-financed digital publisher serving the North American higher education markets. In spring 2003, while the board’s outside director, Mark was asked to assume operating responsibility for the company. Atomic Dog grew at average of 40% annually during Mark’s tenure. In March 2006, he engineered the sale of the company to Thomson Higher Learning, a division of the Thomson Corporation.
For 6 years prior, Mark was a major shareholder and Chairman & CEO of the Jay Industrial Technologies Group, a leveraged buyout roll-up in which he acquired and integrated eight strategically aligned companies providing engineering and maintenance and value-added distribution services to the process manufacturing, oil refining and power generation industries. At the end of 6 years, Mark sold the company to a Manhattan-based private equity fund.
In the 5 years prior, Mark was majority shareholder, Chairman & CEO of a regional business newspaper company which he acquired from bankruptcy. After acquiring two additional city business newspapers and after 5 exceedingly profitable years, Mark sold the company to national newspaper group, American City Business Journals.
Mark began his deal and operating career in the publishing industry, holding senior management positions at Prentice Hall (Gulf & Western), HarperCollins (News Corp) and Dow Jones.
A magna cum laude graduate of Boston University, Mark has served as a director on several company boards. Among other civic activities, Mark is on the board of directors of Golden Gloves and PAL Boxing of Great Cincinnati and is a past corporate sponsorship chairman of the Juvenile Diabetes Foundation. Mark frequently speaks and writes on such topics as mergers and acquisitions, deal financing, business valuation and negotiating. | 