Mark Spitz went to work for ABC Sports in 1976 and worked on many sports presentations, including coverage of the 1976 Olympic Games in Montreal and the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles. In 2000, Mark was voted Athlete of the Century in water sports and was one of the six best Olympians of the Century voted by Sports Illustrated Magazine. Recently, the International Olympic Committee selected Mark as one of the five athletes of the century. Currently Mark is on the Laureus World Sports Academy working on projects world wide in concert with the Laureus Sport for Good Foundation. In the last number of years, Mark has helped to raise more than one million dollars for the United States Olympic Committee through the efforts of organizations directly associated with the USOC.
Between the 1968 and 1972 Olympics, he attended Indiana University. In 1971, he won four national and two college championships, set seven world records and two U.S. records. That year, Mark won the Sullivan Award as the outstanding U.S. amateur athlete. In 1972 was accepted into Indiana School of Dentistry.
In 1973-1986 Mark established a swimwear company in partnership with Adidas called Arena. This company sublicensed swimwear manufacturing, distribution, and sales worldwide in excess of 100 million dollars per year.
In 1976-1985 Mark’s development company Sumark Corporation developed real estate projects in Los Angeles and Hawaii. These residential developments totaled more than 350 million dollars in construction costs, with retail sales over 750 million.
In 1994, Mark became a partner in SmarTalk Teleservices Inc., a company that offered simple, cost-effective telecommunication services to both residential and business customers through the SmarTalk Teleservices Card. Solomon Brothers Inc. and Donaldson, Lufkin and Jenrette Securities Corporation became the Underwriters to a Common Stock offering in 1996, and traded under the symbol SMTK on NASDAQ. The SmarTalk card was marketed nationwide through more than 100,000 retail storefronts and over 600,000 points of sale.
In 2002-2005 Mark joined Wachovia Securities. He established a Financial Strategies Group, concentrating on comprehensive financial planning, asset-allocation and multiple financial plans. This group helped clients achieve their financial goals by identifying specific investment objectives.
Since 2002-2017 Mark has been an executive with business management experience in the financial industry. His experience includes starting, building and managing investment functions; developing and implementing business plans, operational design and redesign work, project management, successful recruitment and development of capital, raising investor capital, along with business crisis management.
Mark blends business management and analytical skills with organizational and people skills. He manages business governance, finance and operations. He also oversees business development, legal and compliance, and handles day-to-day business issues. Mark negotiates and manages the effort from business presentation and due diligence to negotiating the needs of divergent interests within a company. He designs and implements strategies focused on dramatically improving revenues and reducing earnings volatility by creating new targeted investment vehicles and products.