Mark Owen BursonMB.

Who I am. How I think.
How I lead. What matters to me.

I have a natural curiosity about how things work and what makes people tick. I value clear expectations, honest conversations, and giving people room to own their work. Outside work, life revolves around family, friends and getting outdoors.

Mark Owen Burson

01Personal

Off the clock

I’m a Pacific Northwest product through and through, living in Seattle with my wife and our labradoodle. We’re happiest outdoors or on the road with our Airstream. Winters mean skiing Stevens Pass and Whistler (the après is non-negotiable). Summers take us to Westport for the coast, and Hood Canal and the San Juan Islands for clams and crab. Come fall and spring, we head to eastern Washington for Oktoberfest and amazing wines.

I grew up in small business through my family’s dental lab, which spanned multiple generations over more than fifty years. I started driving deliveries at sixteen, made partials and dentures through college, and eventually ran the back office. It’s what drove my passion for working with partners and clients, particularly supporting small businesses.

My education wasn’t a straight line: I dropped out of high school, earned my GED, and went on to a bachelor’s degree at Portland State and an MBA at Washington State. As Robert Frost said, “two roads diverged in a wood, and I — I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference.”

Outside work, I co-led and was the Chairman of TMRW Group, a 501(c)(3) charity that operated for over a decade, raising funds for King County Toys for Tots.

We’re also a soccer family — longtime Seattle Sounders season-ticket holders, and we experienced all the 2026 World Cup matches here in Seattle. Soccer is the one sport where you can walk into a bar full of strangers who don’t share your language and still be completely in sync, simply because a match is on. That’s my kind of universal language.

03Credentials

Education

QualificationInstitution
MBAWashington State University
Graduate Certificate in International BusinessWashington State University
BA in MarketingPortland State University

Let’s talk.

I welcome conversations about executive leadership opportunities where my background could make a difference.

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