Mark did many different things in his life. He studied Communications (Utrecht), Culture, Management and Organization (VU, Amsterdam) and became a Master of Marketing Strategy (RUG, Groningen) in 2012.
He wrote two books: Het merk IK (The brand called I, 30,000 copies sold) and TRUE Brands, about branding in a new world, both published by Unieboek-Het Spectrum in the Netherlands.
At this moment he is working on a novel that will be published later this year.
After college he set up an après-ski chain in the French Alpes (10 cafés and a hotel) called 'La Grotte du Yeti', after which he worked as a strategist for various advertising agencies before becoming Brand & Communications manager for Red Bull. Till mid 2019 he was the Global Marketing Director for the Brazilian coconut brand Obrigado, for which he traveled extensively to Brazil and the US.
In between these jobs he advised dozens of - mostly socially driven - brands from large to small organizations at home and abroad under the name of DR Brand, including a spiritual leader in India and Brazil and National Park Rescue (NPR) in Africa. At this moment he is a tutor for the Annual Programme and the Leadership Special at ACE Producers.
He has been privileged to visit many places in the world and to follow quite a few self-development trajectories at organizations such as The Path of Love and the Tools for life Training Institute, as well as the Basic course of the Photo academy Amsterdam (2019), the novel course of the Amsterdam Schrijversvakschool (writing school) in 2020-2021 and scriptwriting (2022). As a What If Innovation practioner he was leading many creative sessions for all kind of organizations around the world. He loves (long distance) hiking, art, design and film and enjoys living (most of the year) in Amsterdam with his girlfriend.