Mark Westwind, MPA

Career Exploration Coordinator and Consultant to the Digital Safari Academy

Mark Westwind has more than 30 years experience working with businesses, government agencies and non-profit organizations. Mark was the founding director of the Contra Costa Software Business Incubator in Concord, California and the founding associate director of John F. Kennedy University’s Center for Entrepreneurship. Mark serves as a technology consultant for the Contra Costa Small Business Development Center. He has also served as the U.S. associate for Canton Venture Capital Company, a $100 million Chinese venture capital firm. He has visited more than a dozen Chinese incubators, science parks, and high-tech development zones and has participated in several executive exchange projects with international business incubators in Wuhan and Guangzhou. During the dot-com era, Mark worked with several technology start-ups and produced a series of technology expositions. More recently, he has served as a mentor to U.S. and Chinese high-tech start-ups selected to participate in the annual World’s Best Technology Showcase (his mentored company took the WBT 2005 Gold Award). He is the co-author (with Dr. Tapan Munroe) of Silicon Valley: The Ecology of Innovation.

Mark is also the founder/co-founder of over a dozen community organizations, including a regional association of videographers, several farmers markets, the California Council for Community Gardening, the James Howe Homestead Park (Walnut Creek), and Project Glean (a suburban harvesting program selected as one of President George H. W. Bush's "1000 Points of Light."

Mark graduated from the University of California at Berkeley with a B.A. in Environmental Studies. He earned a Master of Public Administration (MPA) degree from California State University, Hayward and a Certificate in Entrepreneurship from John F. Kennedy University.


	Mark Westwind, MPA Career Exploration Coordinator and Consultant to the Digital Safari Academy Mark Westwind has more than 30 years experience working with businesses, government agencies and non-profit organizations. Mark was the founding director of the Contra Costa Software Business Incubator in Concord, California and the founding associate director of John F. Kennedy University’s Center for Entrepreneurship. Mark serves as a technology consultant for the Contra Costa Small Business Development Center. He has also served as the U.S. associate for Canton Venture Capital Company, a $100 million Chinese venture capital firm. He has visited more than a dozen Chinese incubators, science parks, and high-tech development zones and has participated in several executive exchange projects with international business incubators in Wuhan and Guangzhou. During the dot-com era, Mark worked with several technology start-ups and produced a series of technology expositions. More recently, he has served as a mentor to U.S. and Chinese high-tech start-ups selected to participate in the annual World’s Best Technology Showcase (his mentored company took the WBT 2005 Gold Award). He is the co-author (with Dr. Tapan Munroe) of Silicon Valley: The Ecology of Innovation. Mark is also the founder/co-founder of over a dozen community organizations, including a regional association of videographers, several farmers markets, the California Council for Community Gardening, the James Howe Homestead Park (Walnut Creek), and Project Glean (a suburban harvesting program selected as one of President George H. W. Bush's "1000 Points of Light." Mark graduated from the University of California at Berkeley with a B.A. in Environmental Studies. He earned a Master of Public Administration (MPA) degree from California State University, Hayward and a Certificate in Entrepreneurship from John F. Kennedy University.