Mark Gaspar’s 38-year business and government relations career spanned development, production, and marketing of naval, airborne, and land-based law enforcement and military systems in the United States and around the world. In his final assignment as Director, Maritime Systems in Lockheed Martin’s Washington Operations, Mark conducted strategic planning, customer relations, and legislative affairs for US Navy and Coast Guard programs as a registered lobbyist. He has provided domain expertise support to Members of the US Administration and Congress as well as the Congressional Research Service, and several Washington, DC based think tanks.
Throughout his career Mark conducted business in over 18 countries and has extensive experience with government operations including elected and career service officials in the United States and internationally. After the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, Mark established a business unit for design, development, and marketing of advanced homeland security systems worldwide. With offices in Spain, Norway, and Australia, he managed multiple international contracts as well as business development and customer relations.
Previously, his experience in production operations, acquisition management, and negotiations enabled him to lead a team that redesigned the acquisition process and trained personnel for a multi-site, $6 billion per year subcontract management system. Mark’s career began in refractory metallurgy and then transitioned to project management for rocket propulsion, high-energy laser, and satellite electronics systems as well as manufacturing engineering and the implementation of factory operations management systems.
Mark began teaching at The George Washington University Elliott School of International Affairs in 2007. In addition to his work at the Ohio State University John Glenn College of Public Affairs, Mark teaches for Cairn University in support of Business programs. He also taught at Georgetown University McDonough School of Business. His courses include politics, policy analysis, professional writing, economics, and criminal justice as well as transnational and homeland security, counterterrorism, project and operations management, cybersecurity, negotiations, international business, and business strategy development. Mark is major contributor to www.7rd2.com, a website dedicated to course development and the course delivery process for the next generation of online learning.
This commentary is intended as an addendum and recent update to the original research article published in World Affairs, “The High Representative in Bosnia-Herzegovina: The Unusual Institutional Arrangement of a Non-Authoritarian, yet Controlled, Democracy”