Name: Mark Terry SPG Career: Vice President of Marketing Professional Philosophy: "Surround yourself with people with passion" On Change: "Act swiftly with a good plan"

Evolutionary Man

Mark Terry knows something about change. A picture on his desk depicts a mime juggling eggs – which then transform into vibrant, multi-colored birds soaring through the air, symbolizing the business transformation processes he has championed throughout his career. As Vice President of Marketing for a multimedia learning company, Mr. Terry is now working with its six training organizations to leverage their educational assets into a nation-wide business-to-business Web training enterprise.

"I try to keep learning all the time," states Mr. Terry. "My philosophy is to learn something new one day and apply it the next day. This keeps me energetic and always moving forward."

As a third-generation media businessman, Mr. Terry has deep knowledge of many of this century’s revolutionary changes in technology. In 1923, his grandfather bought a vaudeville house and transformed it into a movie theater showing silent pictures. Talkies soon emerged, and then the drive-in theater. Enter Mr. Terry who worked in family-owned drive-ins as a carhop and at theater concessions from the age of 6 right up through high school. The Terry family saw cable TV as a great opportunity and jumped in, purchasing and running cable franchises in Oklahoma. His dad brought Mr. Terry along to help negotiate the deals with town councils and city officials throughout the area.

Once out of college, Mr. Terry entered the film and video production business where he wore many hats over a period of years. As a director, producer and editor he saw exactly "what it took to pull off a show," states Mr. Terry. "This knowledge was a huge strength when dealing with clients. It was natural for me to move into sales. I then evolved to thinking about marketing the entire company. That led me to business school and an MBA."

Throughout his life, Mr. Terry has learned that change is about "moving swiftly" and "having the courage to make informed decisions and enact them before a host of encumbering factors gets in the way." SPG was attracted by this energy and passion; when the SPG recruiter learned that her client company had "big dreams" for this strategic marketing position, she knew that Mark Terry would be a great fit. "Loretta took very good care of me," he states. "She was very informative and dedicated -- she made sure I knew everything possible about this position before I accepted the offer. And it’s been well worth it, I’m very happy to be here."