Team Members - Mark R. Warner
As a husband and the father of three girls, Mark Warner understands
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| Order: | 69th Governor of Virginia |
| Term of Office: | January, 2002 - January, 2006 |
| Predecessor: | Jim Gilmore |
| Successor: | Tim Kaine |
| Date of Birth: | December 15, 1954 |
| Place of Birth: | Indianapolis, Indiana |
| First Lady: | Lisa Collis |
| Profession: | Businessman |
| Political Party: | Democratic |
| Lieutenant Governor: | Tim Kaine (2002-2006) |
that for Virginia's prosperity to continue, we need to invest not just in businesses and economic growth, but in people and communities.
Mark was the first in his family to graduate from college. He completed George Washington University in 1977 and then went on to graduate from Harvard Law School in 1980. But instead of practicing law, Mark went into business for himself. And like many young entrepreneurs, his first two businesses were not successful.
Those early failures taught Mark important lessons about hard work and picking yourself up and starting again. In the early 1980's, he entered the new wireless communications industry, at a time when the idea of cellular telephones was untested and risky.
Mark is a founding partner of Columbia Capital Corporation, a technology venture capital fund in Alexandria. Over the years, he has helped to create more than 70 telecommunications and information technology companies, many of which later went public, including Nextel and advanced Radio Telecom. Columbia Capital is now one of the largest technology-focused venture capital funds in the mid-Atlantic region.
Mark has been a committed leader in community life all across Virginia. He was the founding chairman of the Virginia Health Care Foundation, which has provided health care to more than 374,000 under-served Virginians. The Health Care Foundation is currently working to create SeniorNavigator.com, designed to be the definitive Internet site on services for older Virginians, as well as to train thousands of volunteers in places of worship and senior centers all over Virginia to help seniors and their families use the site to find information on drug interactions, Medicare questions, and other senior needs.
Recognizing that people feel most comfortable in their homes and in their places of worship, Mark started TechRiders in the summer of 2000 to address Virginia's growing digital divide. Based in Virginia's places of worship, TechRiders is designed to demystify computer technology through user-friendly seminars in computer fundamentals, from software, to the Internet, to advice on buying technology. Teams of TechRider trainers offer one-week courses to participants of all ages. In the summer of 2000 alone, TechRiders trained more than 3,300 Virginians to use computer technology.
In 1997, Mark started the Virginia High-Tech Partnership to link students from Virginia's five Historically Black Colleges and Universities with internships and job opportunities in more than 75 technology companies across Virginia. As chairman of the Virginia Foundation for Independent Colleges, Mark has brought business and education leaders together to develop Tek.Xam, a test that allows liberal arts students to demonstrate basic technology competence. It has been offered on more than 60 campuses and has been endorsed by dozens of major employers.
To make sure that Virginia's prosperity extends to all corners of the Commonwealth, Mark has brought together investors from across Virginia to create four regional-based small business investment funds in Southwest Virginia, Southside Virginia, Greater Richmond, and Hampton Roads. These funds provide the critical early-stage capital needed to help local entrepreneurs get new small businesses off the ground in their home communities.
Mark currently chairs the Virginia Math and Science Coalition, co-chairs Virginia's Communities in Schools Foundation, and serves on the boards of Virginia Union University, George Washington University, and the Appalachian School of Law. He previously served on the boards of United Community Ministries, the Metropolitan YMCA, the Alexandria Volunteer Bureau, the Alexandria Boys Girls Club, the Potomac Knowledgeway, the Coalfields Economic Development Authority, and the state of Virginia's Commonwealth Transportation Board.