Mark Lang works with students at eVenture 2008.

Mark (left) talking with guests at Charter Farms.

Mark has an interesting and varied background that has involved pioneering new activities in technology, entrepreneurship, innovation, and education.  While in high school, he designed and built a working digital computer from raw logic circuits that won trips to three consecutive international science fairs.  He went on to earn a B.S. in Physics from Texas Tech and a Ph.D. in Acoustics from Penn State, where he did new work in sound scattering, acoustical holography, and computer graphics.

Mark came to the Lehigh Valley in 1982 as a Lehigh University faculty member in Mechanical Engineering.  Within two years he helped launch the Ben Franklin Partnership Center at Lehigh, serving as its Executive Director from 1987-2001. At Ben Franklin Mark played a key role in developing new methods and approaches to help entrepreneurs and advanced manufacturers grow innovative businesses that became standard practice nationally and even internationally.  He also championed and supported pioneering efforts in total quality management applied in both business and education, factory simulation, business collaboration, and applied education.

Mark left Ben Franklin in 2001 to work on new tools and approaches dictated by today’s hypercompetitive global economy that can take organizations and communities to the next level of performance and innovation.  He worked with DeSales University in 2004 on a symposium series and publication entitled “Creating an Economy of Innovation and Entrepreneurship in the Greater Lehigh Valley”, and again in 2008 on a conference and publication focused on co-creating new educational models for a world where technology-mediated, global networks drive competition.  Mark worked with Charter Partners Institute as an advisor and Board member for about 18 months prior to accepting this role.  He was impressed with how the Institute has used entrepreneurial experiences to help young people learn initiative and innovation.  He believes that, for a successful future, everyone will need these skills, and he is excited to leverage and expand the Institute’s experience to make the community and the country more entrepreneurial and innovative.