Mark Light

Dr. Mark Light is President and founder of First Light Group with a mission to bring your future within reach. He is a trusted leadership coach who empowers others to do good great, a master teacher known for his contagious enthusiasm and actionable learning, and a street-smart writer with three published books and dozens of columns for the Nonprofit Quarterly.

His leadership experience includes 15 seasons as the first full-time CEO of the Victoria Theatre Association where he led its transformation into a top-30 performing arts center by making the customer the star. He was a decade-long Tony® Awards voter and won The Broadway League's first ever Samuel J. L'Hommedieu Award for Outstanding Achievement in Presenter Management.

As a master teacher, Mark's classroom is anywhere nonprofit leaders at all levels attend his Emerging Leaders and Sustainable Strategy programs. He was a highly regarded full teaching professor at DePaul University's School of Public Service, a visiting professor at Wright State University, and an instructor at Case Western Reserve University's Weatherhead School of Management where he was received the Mandel Center Teaching Award in 2010.

Mark is also a limited partner in Forager Films, which focuses on supporting independent films by such notables as Joe Swanberg (easy, Drinking Buddies, Happy Christmas, and V/H/S) and Alex Ross Perry (Wake Up Phillip, Queen of Earth, and Golden Exits).

As an author, Mark has written three books: Results Now and The Strategic Board, both published by John Wiley & Sons, and Executive Committee published by BoardSource where he served on the Council of Editorial Advisors. His writing has appeared in Board Member magazine, the Nonprofit Management and Leadership Journal, and the Nonprofit Quarterly, which is home to Mark's many Dr. Conflict and You First columns.

Adding to Mark's substantial experience as successful leader himself, he is an International Coach Federation Associate Certified Coach and an iPEC Certified Professional Coach. He is a graduate of the Center for Creative Leadership programs in Coaching for Greater Effectiveness and Leadership for Development, and he is certified to use all of the Center's assessments. He is also an experienced DiSC® facilitator.

Mark holds a BFA from Drake University, an MBA from the UCLA Anderson School of Management, and a Ph.D. from Antioch University.