Mark is a 1986 Graduate of the Culverhouse College of Commerce and Business Administration at the University of Alabama. During his undergraduate studies, Mark was the recipient of the prestigious Hohenberg Trust Scholarship and the Culverhouse Dean’s Award for Academic Excellence. Mark was tapped for membership in Mortar Board (the premier national honor society recognizing college seniors for superior achievement in scholarship, leadership and service) and initiated into the Golden Key National Honour Society (recognizing students who rank in the top 15% of their class within all fields of study). Mark was also chosen for membership in Beta Gamma Sigma (the highest recognition a student studying business administration can receive in a business program accredited by the AACSB), Mu Kappa Tau (academic top 10% of students in the marketing discipline), Gamma Beta Phi (academic top 10% of sophomore class in all disciplines), Phi Eta Sigma (academic top 10% of freshman class in all disciplines) and Alpha Lambda Delta (academic top 10% of freshman class in all disciplines).

Mark attended law school at the University of Alabama School of Law. While pursuing his studies at UA Law, Mark was selected to serve as a teaching member of the John A. Campbell Moot Court Board and received the 1988 John A. Campbell Final Round Oralist Award (an award recognizing the four law students who advanced to the final oral argument round of the John A. Campbell Moot Court Competition). Mark was inducted into the Bench and Bar Legal Honor Society (an honor limited to 10% of the law school student body based upon academic achievement and service to the law school) and served as Exchequer for the Phi Delta Phi International Legal Fraternity. Mark also acted as the Lead Articles Editor for the Alabama Law and Psychology Review.

In 1992, Mark left his first position as an associate at the Mobile, Alabama law firm of Sintz, Campbell, Duke, Taylor & Cunningham to pursue a new challenge as an In-House Attorney/Legal Editor with LexisNexis Group, a multinational corporation providing computer-assisted legal research services and maintaining the world’s largest electronic database for legal and public records related information. While in that position, Mark was based in Charlottesville, Virginia where he established contacts and relationships with attorneys and legal professionals from all over the United States. Many of these professional relationships have remained strong and have proved invaluable over the years. Mark returned to Alabama in 1995 and joined the Mobile law firm of Whitfield and McAlpine, P.C. as a Member/Shareholder. During more than a decade of practice in Mobile, Mark distinguished himself as a formidable advocate in matters involving complex high asset divorce and child custody litigation.

Mark is licensed to practice in Alabama, Louisiana and the District of Columbia. He is active in the Tuscaloosa County Bar Association and currently serves as it's Vice President and is a member of the Domestic Relations Committee. Mark especially enjoys representing the legal interests of children as a court appointed Guardian ad Litem. Mark is a member of The University Club, Indian Hills Country Club and attends Canterbury Episcopal Church. In his spare time, he is an amateur photographer, a frustrated poet and an avid international traveler. He enjoys following politics, Crimson Tide football, his beloved “Million Dollar Band” and spending time with his three high maintenance cats: Jude, LilyBird and Piper.