Mark Begich,  Founding Board Member, President

Mark Begich is the president and CEO of Northern Compass Group, LLC. Over the last 40 years as a businessman, he has been an entrepreneur, CEO and led creative startups. Mark is experienced in commercial and residential real-estate, retail sales, travel & tourism, business consulting, mergers & acquisitions of public utilities and privately held companies, corporate restructuring, business turnarounds, vending and distribution, capital-raising, joint ventures and equity investing.  He currently owns and operates several hot springs and resorts in Nevada and New Mexico and serves as the President of the U.S. Hot Springs Business & Trade Association.

In addition to his long career in the private sector, Mark has dedicated several decades of his life to public service.  He served in the United States Senate from 2009 to 2014 for the 111^th, 112^th and 113^th Congresses. Before that, he served as Mayor of Anchorage, Alaska from 2003-2007 and spent ten years as an elected member of the Anchorage Assembly.Over the course of his career, Mark has worked on key issues related to telecommunications, Arctic policy, technology, the U.S. military, transportation, tribal affairs, fisheries, infrastructure, labor & workforce development, education, natural resource development, veterans’ affairs, housing, business development and economic growth. Mark is married to Anchorage businesswoman Deborah Bonito, president and owner of Sourdough Mercantile Inc. and several other small businesses.  Their son, Jacob, currently attends college at Georgetown University.