Mark Weldon Email & Phone Number

Raleigh, North Carolina, United States

Leading the City of Raleigh Small Business Economic Development teamIEDC Certified Entrepreneurial Development Professional (EDP)

Raleigh, North Carolina

Where public policy and free enterprise intersect, providing solutions for Raleigh’s small businesses - the heart & soul that fuels our region’s vibrant economic engine. My story: Shortly after joining the City, COVID-19 struck, along with its business impacts. This expanded my grant management role into convening diverse Business District & Alliances across Raleigh, and forging new partnerships at Federal, State, and Local levels.Highlights so far: - BUSINESS ALLIANCE ECOSYSTEM: Launched ongoing collaboration sessions with Raleigh’s 12+ local Business District & Alliance leaders, rolling out Federal, State & Local solutions across the City. - BUILDING UPFIT GRANT: 88 small business grant awards totaling $2.6M have leveraged over $10M in economic investment in the City, with more investment in the pipeline. Personally screened hundreds of applications, with 33 new grant awards approved. - CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT: Created new online tools to reduce grant application time by 2 weeks, and reduce contract approval time from weeks to days - improving responsiveness to the small business community. - PUBLIC SAFETY RESPONSE: During a summer of unrest and substantial damage to downtown storefronts, established line of communication between City Manager’s Office, Raleigh Police Department, and the small business community.- TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE WEBINARS: Produce & lead a series of info sessions for small business owners & local media. Typical session attendance in the hundreds, with business & government leaders as panelists.- STRATEGIC PLANNING: Leading team and partnering with others to deliver City of Raleigh FY2021-2025 Strategic Plan Economic Development commitments.NCEDA member - North Carolina Economic Development AssociationIEDC - Certificate: Business Retention and ExpansionUNC School of Government - Basics of American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA)Count On Me NC - Certified COVID-19 Prevention for Customer Facing Businesses

Raleigh, North Carolina

Small Business Economic Development. Board leadership - 800 business owner member association: development, fundraising, events, promotion, advocacy, strategic planning.My Story: Making a difference in my community is really important to me. I'm proud of the work that Shop Local Raleigh has done to deliver local business promotion, service & advocacy. During my time there, membership grew 10x from 80 to 800+ businesses - local, independent businesses creating Greater Raleigh's community fabric. In 2012 I led the launch of BREWGALOO, which has grown to 50,000 attendance, rated as USA Today #1 Beer Festival in America since 2019. Brewgaloo is now a key fundraiser for the organization, and has become a highly effective promotional vehicle for Shop Local Raleigh.I actively promoted the organization & member businesses. I helped Brewgaloo get bigger and better every year, and hosted member VIPs each year at their other signature event, The Raleigh Christmas Parade. Finally, on a national scale, I leveraged my involvement with AMIBA, to share best practices with about 100 other Independent Business Alliances across North America.

Cary, North Carolina

Executive & Professional recruiting, into entrepreneurial VC and Private Equity held manufacturing / distribution & innovation companies nationwide. Headhunter - Commissioned Sales.My Story: I vetted thousands of candidates - placing exceptional leaders into critical roles, and building a network of business leaders and top professionals. I matched up the best people with the best companies, for the best results. Some recent placements include: - CHRO- VP Sales / Marketing- Director of eCommerce- Account Executive- Agronomist- Field Development Manager- Regulatory Manager- Commodity Manager- Product Manager- Supply Chain Manager- Construction Project Manager- Senior Buyer

Raleigh, North Carolina

Community Engagement, for Shaw University. Top-rated on-air host. Live music events. Broadcast NPR, community & sports events. Non-Profit fundraising / development. Social Media Manager. My Story: I made a significant career pivot to public radio, and seized the opportunity to get more involved in my local community, at WSHA 88.9FM - Shaw University's 50,000 watt public radio station in Downtown Raleigh. This was my refuge, after the historic bankruptcy of Nortel during the 2008 financial collapse.I delivered value to WSHA and the local community by hosting eclectic jazz, funk & blues programs, as well as raising vital funds through on air pledge drives, and producing live fundraising events (particularly in socially diverse, underserved communities).My Funk Friday program was the leading show in ratings and fundraising, engaging listeners across the country and around the world. I hand-selected compelling music and features. I created a lively interactive listener experience through Social Media. In addition to my daily music programs, I aired NPR Morning Edition, 75+ sporting events, and several on-location live music performances. I also edited and produced a variety of music and community programs on WSHA.Social Media has become a crucial differentiator in an increasingly competitive mass communications market. I created the WSHA experience on Facebook and Twitter, and grew this unique, interactive listener conversation into the largest Social Media presence, among jazz stations across the Carolinas.

Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina Area

Networks - Telecom - IT Products & Services: Service contracts, maintenance, and escalation management for enterprise customers and distributors east of the Mississippi.My Story: I owned the Customer Experience for Nortel Enterprise - building and leading my team of skilled, autonomous, and dedicated Customer Service Managers across a wide geography. I earned steadily increasing responsibilities until I ultimately led a 26-state (Southeast/Central US) region, with $300M+ Product / $50M+ Service Revenue. My customers included a major stock exchange, a nuclear power company, several state & local governments, banks, utilities, hospitals, school systems, and more.In my roles of increasing responsibility as a Director, I consistently earned the loyalty of numerous strategic customers & distributors by beating expectations, through my personal engagement and commitment. I was rated "Most Effective" among my peers a number of times, and earned a strong track record of Customer Satisfaction.I also won the loyalty of my talented teams - leading by example, and establishing crystal clear goals, and regularly communicating progress and results. I made reusable and best-in-class processes the cornerstone for aggressively increasing team effectiveness year over year. Created TL / ISO9000 processes as a key initiative.My earlier responsibilities (from 2000-2003) focused on Supply Chain Operations. My team and I standardized processes to dramatically reduce lead times and deliver 100% on-time. A significant accomplishment during this period involved M&A divestiture operations and due diligence. The team ensured effective management of contractual liabilities, while maximizing the value of $1.2B divested excess inventory after the dot-com bust.

Ottawa, Canada Area

Product P&L Budget/Forecast, New Product Introduction, International Project Management (Japan), Offshore Manufacturing (Thailand), Customer R&D Funding, Cost Reduction.My Story: Reporting directly to the Product GM, I managed the business and P&L for a highly successful $100M+ product launch into Japan. The customer was notoriously demanding, and yet the product beat all cost targets, and was evaluated to be higher quality than the Japanese product that we displaced.Accomplishments include securing on-time customer deliveries and optimizing long-term custom R&D investment for the 50+ person development team. I personally secured $5M Custom R&D Funding from customer, and led efforts to drive 40% in cost reductions.Operationally, I contributed to the successful transition to offshore contract manufacturing for 5M+ units. I built a strong rapport with the Nortel Japan sales team, along with the product team - and was regularly rated as Most Effective among my peers.

Hong Kong

Hong Kong ExPat Assignment: Operations (Order - Sales - Production) forecasting & alignment with Joint Venture factory (China). Strategic planning: markets, competitors, share. Margin estimates (strategic deals), Ex/Im Logistics My Story: Selected personally by the President of Nortel China, I jumped at this expat assignment in China. I was based at the Hong Kong business center, with extensive travel to the Nortel China Headquarters in Beijing, and to the Guangdong JV Manufacturing Center (Nortel & Chinese Joint Venture). I developed & delivered strategic / operating plans for Nortel China and JV factory executives, along with reliable business metrics / forecasts for Nortel executives. I worked closely with the President of Nortel China and periodically engaged with Nortel Asia Executive VP.Along with stabilizing forecasting and strategic planning, I was able to lead initiative to accelerate training and technology transfer to local Chinese team, reducing expat staff and overall cost by 50% ($12M cost savings). My results earned me "Most Effective" rating among my peers.

San Francisco Bay Area

Complex Project Management, New Product Introduction, Strategic Customer LiaisonMy Story: Reporting to Nortel Pacific Region Director, with dotted line responsibilities to Pacific Bell VP and Project Management team, I drove Nortel Project Management for complex new technology and business process introduction.I cultivated a strong customer partnership, and worked closely with Nortel Product Marketing Team to regularly promote product value to this Lead Account.My efforts and results earned me the Nortel President's Award, along with a unique dual-company Pacific Bell / Nortel award for superior Lead Account management.

San Francisco Bay Area

Resolved complex technical issues (Engineer 1985-1990). Excelled under pressure. Managed technical service team for Pacific Region Carrier business (1990-1994).• Earned Nortel President's Award: United States Senate service issue resolution.• Earned customer and Nortel corporate awards for service improvement.

Mba, Small Business, Marketing

Graduated with Honors.

Bsee, Electrical And Computer Engineering