Mark A. Burnham is a Senior Partner of Ideas for Action, LLC, and President of The Burnham Group, a strategic advocacy firm. He has more than 24 years of experience as a leader, strategist and facilitator, developing strategic action and advocacy plans, advising CEOs, presidents, and Boards of Trustees on policy and personal engagements with legislative and administrative leaders, including direct engagements with the White House and presidential cabinet officials. These efforts have included assembling and guiding sophisticated teams of professionals in a variety of disciplines, and facilitating strategy and strategic planning processes for campuses, colleges and universities.
Mark’s leadership experience with managing large and diverse portfolios has allowed him to hone his skills at building teams of professionals, creating and executing highly complex strategic plans, managing stakeholder and leader expectations and building a foundation of trust and integrity. The high-profile nature of managing interactions with government officials requires poise, calm and clear-headed thinking in a high-pressure environment, and these are lessons and skill sets he has in-turn imparted to his mentees, team members, and clients.
Mark has held senior leadership roles for more than 20 years, including vice president for government affairs for Michigan State University from 2011-18. He has engaged as a thought leader with dozens of organizations, including for-profits, non-profits and universities. This diversity has enabled him to gain perspective on various environments and organizational cultures. He has put that experience into practice with his leadership on several high-profile projects including the effort to secure the approval and funding of the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams (FRIB), a $730 million Department of Energy investment to build a world leading research facility on the campus of MSU, and his work with Caltech and JPL to secure Congressional support for twin Mars Rovers. His ability to coordinate public, local, state and federal support required strong leadership and determination.
Mark has managed the state and federal engagements with legislative leaders, agency personnel and the White House for several major research universities including the University of Michigan, Michigan State University and the California Institute of Technology (Caltech)/Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). He established and currently manages a new trade association designed to educate and advocate on behalf of the Additive Manufacturing sector. In this role, he works with small, medium and large manufacturers, universities and the Federal Agencies to expand the utilization of additive manufacturing while also working to support the creation of the next generation of additive technologies. Using these skillsets, Mark continues to provide insight and advice for clients bringing new technologies into the marketplace.
Mark holds a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from the University of Michigan, a Juris Doctor from the Boston College Law School, is featured in the book Lobbyists at Work by Beth Leech (2013) and is certified in the Five Behaviors of a Cohesive Team instrument, through Wiley Education Services.