Page 63 - Wayne County

frst child. Unfortunately, life’s road is flled with unexpected twists and turns and Pam’s family experienced tragedy with the loss of her brother. Mark and Pam decided they needed to move to Wayne County to be close to her parents. Pam remarks on those days, “We moved to Jesup on faith! Mark didn’t have his real estate license and I didn’t have a teaching job, but we knew it was what we needed to do. Now we look back and see it was in the Lord’s plan for us to be here because we have been blessed beyond belief.”

Once Mark was in Jesup, he hit the ground running. He got his real estate license in 1991 and four years later had his broker’s license. He became active in organizations like the Chamber of Commerce, Wayne County Hospital Authority, Rotary Club, Boys and Girls Club and The Wayne County Partners in Education, PrimeSouth Bank Board, the Satilla River Keepers, the Land Conservation Council, the Jekyll Island Authority, and the Governor’s Water Supply Program Task Force. Congressman Jack Kingston asked Mark to be his volunteer community representative and later Senator Tommie Williams asked him to be his county chairman and as they say “the rest is history.” Mark, who was always interested in politics, decided to run for State Representative for the 178th district. Mark remembers his campaigning days, “I really loved it. As a representative you have two year terms, so every two years you have to interview for your job again. It gives you a chance to go door to door and listen. You get to meet folks you may not have met before. Legislative districts are very large geographically in rural Georgia so it is challenging logistically, but very rewarding and essential in representative government.” Mark handily won the seat and served the people of Wayne, Pierce and Brantley Counties for two terms. While in the General Assembly, Mark served on the Natural Resources and the Game Fish and Parks Committees. He worked hard and was very passionate to learn about Georgia’s natural and cultural resources. His work did not go unnoticed. In December of 2010, Mark received a call while on a hunting trip from Governor Perdue and Governor-Elect Deal asking him to consider being the head of the Department of Natural Resources. After discussing it with Pam, he accepted and was confrmed by the 18 member DNR Board the next week.

As Commissioner of Natural Resources, Mark is the sixth person to head the DNR and its approximately 2300 employees. The Department of Natural Resources has statewide responsibilities for the management