Mark Skogen is a senior project director for IREX’s Information and Media Practice in a headquarters-based position. He and his DC colleagues work closely with teams in Eurasia and the Balkans on a portfolio of projects focused on media and information literacy.

Mark draws on his technical and institutional knowledge from 20 years of experience, which started in Central Asia in 2000 as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Kazakhstan.

Mark has been with IREX off and on since 2002 in Central Asia, where he managed the Internet Access and Training Program (IATP). Mark provided strategic guidance and management to IATP and other programs that used technology as a tool for development and used the internet for information dissemination and consumption.

His various assignments, including multiple chief of party positions with USAID and USDOS-funded projects, kept him in the field for 13 years and residing in Kazakhstan and Georgia. He directed projects in 11 countries in Eurasia and two countries in the Middle East. His technical expertise includes developing community networks, spearheading training initiatives, and cultivating education-linked capacity building projects.

Through Mark's extensive field experience, he brings empathy to the challenges and context the field-based program managers and directors he supports globally. His joy comes from working with colleagues to establish a vision and innovative implementation that aim to solve complex challenges and strive for new levels of excellence. He proactively balances grantor interests and compliance, DC communications and reporting, and balancing reasonable professional demands and growth of the teams involved.

Mark graduated from the University of Wisconsin–Madison with undergraduate degrees in international business and marketing. He has a graduate degree in public affairs from the University of Minnesota with a certificate in nonprofit management.