COL Mark E. Craig, Colorado State University ’71, received his Bachelor of Science degree in 1971 and his Master’s Degree in 1973. His career as an educator spanned thirty years with a school district comprised of fifty-nine schools serving more than 36,000 students.
During a one-year leave of absence from teaching, Mark served as an Account Executive for a Denver-based wellness consulting firm and as Assistant General Manager for Club Sports International in Denver. During this period, he also served as the State Representative for the Association for Fitness in Business. In this capacity, he was a featured speaker for the National Governor’s Council on Physical Fitness, addressing audiences in Washington, D.C., and at the United States Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs.
Concurrently, Mark served as an officer in the United States Army Reserve, achieving the rank of Colonel. Approximately half of his military career was spent in various roles at the Pentagon, including assignments on the Army Staff, Joint Staff, and within the Office of the Secretary of Defense. In his final Pentagon assignment, he worked with more than sixteen countries, primarily with their Ministries of Defense and their ambassadors and embassy staffs in Washington, D.C. He participated on the record in bilateral Joint Staff talks and provided testimony for Congress. His final career assignment was Director of Operations, overseeing the wartime operations center for the Army Materiel Command.
As a published author, Mark has served as a sports reporter and writer in New Jersey for The Record, The Star-Ledger, and The Ridgewood News. He also co-authored Implementing Total Army Quality for the Army Logistician, a national publication.
Mark retired from teaching in 2002 and from the United States Army in 2003. Mark and his wife, Shirley, enjoy traveling and split their time between Denver, Colorado and Sun City West, Arizona.