Meet Mark

Learn about Mark D. Altomare's background and vision for Scio Township.

About Mark

Mark was born and raised in suburban Detroit, went to high school in Dearborn, and graduated from the University of Michigan in 1981. Shortly after commencement, he moved out of Michigan for the first time. After a year in Houston, he headed west to the San Francisco Bay Area.

There he met his now wife of 40+ years, started a career, earned an MBA, bought a house, and started a family. After 12 years in the Bay Area, a career change took the family coast to coast to Baltimore. After 6 years in Maryland, opportunity knocked again, and Mark and family moved back to Michigan, living in Dexter Township for 7 years.

The pattern continued as Mark accepted a significant promotion to launch a new venture within a $70 billion global company. When that venture concluded, Mark and family moved back to Michigan for good, settling in Scio Township in 2014.

Now retired, Mark and Caroline are finished moving. After enjoying retirement, Mark has decided it is time to invest his energy into making the community they plan to live in for the duration a better place for all its residents.

Career

Mark graduated from the University of Michigan with a bachelor’s degree in psychology. After a short stay in Texas, he moved to California with plans to start a telecom company with his college roommate. That venture never launched, but it did launch Mark into the telecommunications industry.

He was hired by Pacific Bell into their Accelerated Management Development program, a fast-track regimen designed to identify future senior leaders. Over 11 years with Pacific Bell, Mark was promoted twice and earned multiple leadership awards for quality improvement, technology implementation, and outstanding performance managing a 300-person call center.

From there, Mark built a career defined by continuous advancement into positions of increasing responsibility, often in unfamiliar territory. He served as VP of Sales and Marketing at RP Lighting + Fans, where he more than doubled sales from $20 million to $50 million and was a key member of the team that marketed and sold the company to a $20 billion industry leader. He held Regional VP and VP roles at Hubbell Lighting, Toshiba International, and Hagemeyer North America, leading teams of over 200 people and managing budgets in the tens of millions.

Mark holds an MBA in Marketing from Golden Gate University and a Graduate Certificate in Finance and Accounting from the Jesse Jones School of Business at Rice University.

He will bring this same passion and experience to the challenges that await as a Scio Township Trustee.

View Mark’s Full Resume (PDF)

Personal

Mark has been married to Caroline, a Scio Township volunteer on the Roads Advisory Committee, since 1985. He has two grown sons, two daughters-in-law, and one grandson. Mark and Caroline have lived in Scio Township since 2014 with their two beloved dogs Bella and Jazzie.

Mark is a lifelong sports fanatic, both as a fan and a participant. He is a huge fan of the Tigers, Lions, Pistons, and Red Wings, and all sports affiliated with the University of Michigan. In 1978, he began a career in martial arts that lasted over 40 years, earning first-degree black belts in Tae Kwon Do and Hapkido, and second-degree black belts in Judo and Jujutsu. These days his sports participation is mainly golf and pickleball.

On January 31, 2016, Mark suffered a sudden cardiac arrest while playing tennis. Only 1 in 10 people survive such an event. He made a miraculous recovery and continued his career for 7 years before retiring in 2023.

Three years ago, he began volunteering for the American Heart Association and has taken part in multiple fundraising events and political advocacy, including lobbying with legislators in Lansing and Washington, DC. He is currently the AHA Michigan State Advocacy Committee Chairperson. He is also a Community Volunteer for the American Cancer Society.