Mark Basnight
Vice President | Strategic Communications & Incident Response Practice
Years of Experience in
Strategic Communciations
Agencies
Partnered With
Year Joined
SummitET
Why I work at SummitET
The team environment and comradery. The commitment to providing preparedness solutions for threats and hazards that pose the greatest risk.
My work/research will make a difference in the world because…
Identifying and addressing the complexities of communications will make a difference and communication is paramount.
Something you may not know about me
I am a man of strong faith and I am a grandfather of seven. I believe Michael Jordan is the G.O.A.T. and played in the greatest era of the NBA.
What do you perceive is the greatest challenge facing America today regarding your subject-matter-expertise?
Identifying and addressing the complexities of communication.
Affiliations
- EPA Nuclear/Radiological Communications Working Group
- Founding Member and Past Chair, Virtual Social Media Working Group – Department of Homeland Security
- U.S. Army veteran
- National Association Government Communicators
- Charlotte Leadership Forum – Alumni
Certifications
- Certified Speaker and Trainer – John Maxwell Team
- Hazardous Materials Technician and Team Leader (retired)
- Fire Officer I (retired)
- Fire Instructor I (retired)
- FEMA Incident Command System (ICS) 100, 200, 300, 400
- FEMA National Incident Management System (NIMS) 700, 702, 800
- FEMA Master Public Information Officer Program
- Certificate of Training for Chaplaincy | International Fellowship of Chaplains Inc. (Concentration on trauma, grief & loss, critical incident stress management, critical incident stress debriefing, confidentiality, and ethics)
Contributions
About Mark
As Vice President of Communications and Marketing, Mark is responsible for developing and implementing the long-term communications and marketing vision for Summit Exercises and Training. His responsibilities include planning, development, and implementation of all SummitET internal and external communications plans and marketing strategies. Additionally, Mark directs the efforts of the communications and marketing staff and coordinates support at the strategic and tactical levels with operations and programs.
Mark is a John Maxwell Team certified speaker, trainer, coach, and a graduate of the Charlotte Leadership Forum. He is a member of the National Association of Government Communicators and a U.S. Army Veteran. Mark is a founding member and a past Chair for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Virtual Social Media Working Group. He served as a Lead Public Information Officer during the 2012 Democratic National Convention and had a significant role in planning, coordinating, and implementing the Joint Information Center for Charlotte-Mecklenburg. Mark is an alumnus of the inaugural FEMA 389 Masters Public Information Officer Program and a former adjunct instructor for the Emergency Management Institute (Emmitsburg, MD). He has been a keynote speaker, trainer, and panelist for numerous conferences including the National Association of Government Communicators (NAGC) Communication School, National Information Officers Association (NIOA) Conference, National Emergency Manager Association (NEMA) Conference, National Radiological Emergency Preparedness (NREP) Conference, Government Social Media Conference, Urban Areas Security Initiative (UASI) Conference, and Great Lakes Homeland Security Conference. Mark has also been a speaker and trainer internationally for the governments of Seoul, Korea, Abu Dhabi, UAE, and Taipei, Taiwan.