Todd Marks is an American businessman and computer programmer. Marks, a 40 under 40 and 2x EY Entrepreneur of the Year Nominee, is the teacher-turned-technologist founder and CEO of Mindgrub Technologies. Mindgrub, voted CRTC's Tech Company of the Year and placing #520 on the Inc 500/5000, is a mobile, social and web app consultancy, working with companies and organizations in a variety of industries to bring their brand to digital. Mindgrub has won several awards and is considered a tech market leader, working with clients like
Exelon
Exelon Corporation is an American Fortune 100 energy company headquartered in Chicago, Illinois and incorporated in Pennsylvania. It generates revenues of approximately $33.5 billion and employs approximately 33,400 people. Exelon is the larges ...
,
GraphicAudio,
Under Armour
Under Armour, Inc. is an American sports equipment company that manufactures footwear, sports and casual apparel. Under Armour's global headquarters are located in Baltimore, Maryland, with additional offices located in Amsterdam (European hea ...
,
The Universities at Shady Grove,
UMBC
The University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) is a public research university in Baltimore County, Maryland. It has a fall 2022 enrollment of 13,991 students, 61 undergraduate majors, over 92 graduate programs (38 master, 25 doctoral, ...
,
Phillips,
Wendy’s
Wendy's is an American international fast food restaurant chain founded by Dave Thomas (1932–2002) on November 15, 1969, in Columbus, Ohio. Its headquarters moved to Dublin, Ohio, on January 29, 2006. As of December 31, 2018, Wendy's was the ...
,
AOL
AOL (stylized as Aol., formerly a company known as AOL Inc. and originally known as America Online) is an American web portal and online service provider based in New York City. It is a brand marketed by the current incarnation of Yahoo (2017â ...
, and
Yamaha Yamaha may refer to:
* Yamaha Corporation, a Japanese company with a wide range of products and services, established in 1887. The company is the largest shareholder of Yamaha Motor Company (below).
** Yamaha Music Foundation, an organization estab ...
.
Marks was a ''
Baltimore Business Journal
American City Business Journals, Inc. (ACBJ) is an American newspaper publisher based in Charlotte, North Carolina. ACBJ publishes The Business Journals, which contains local business news for 44 markets in the United States, Hemmings Motor News ...
'' honoree of 40 Under 40, a two-time nominee for the
EY Entrepreneur of the Year Award, a Baltimore Visionary named by ''
Baltimore Magazine
''Baltimore'' magazine is a monthly magazine published in Baltimore, Maryland by Rosebud Entertainment L.L.C., a company owned by Steve Geppi and led by its President Michael Teitelbaum. It is the oldest, continuously published city magazine in ...
'', and was elected to the board of directors for the Northeastern Maryland Tech Council (NMTC).
Marks has written and contributed to a number of books including Flash Magic, New Masters of Flash, and Web Design in a Nutshell. Marks also sits on the advisory boards for
Loyola University’s MBA program, th
Maryland Technology Council(MTC), and th
Northeastern Maryland Tech Council(NMTC).
Career
Marks was born in
Syracuse, New York
Syracuse ( ) is a City (New York), city in and the county seat of Onondaga County, New York, Onondaga County, New York, United States. It is the fifth-most populous city in the state of New York following New York City, Buffalo, New York, Buffa ...
. He grew up in
Howard County, Maryland
Howard County is located in the U.S. state of Maryland. As of the 2010 census, the population was 287,085. As of the 2020 census its population rose to 328,200. Its county seat is Ellicott City. Howard County is included in the Baltimore-Colu ...
, graduated high school in
Columbia and studied at
Loyola College, where he graduated in 1998 with a Bachelors of Science in Math.
He taught Math and Computer Science and was an
Adobe Flash
Adobe Flash (formerly Macromedia Flash and FutureSplash) is a multimedia Computing platform, software platform used for production of Flash animation, animations, rich web applications, application software, desktop applications, mobile apps, mo ...
developer during the
dot-com boom
The dot-com bubble (dot-com boom, tech bubble, or the Internet bubble) was a stock market bubble in the late 1990s, a period of massive growth in the use and adoption of the Internet.
Between 1995 and its peak in March 2000, the Nasdaq Compos ...
of the 1990s.
He went into entrepreneurship in 1999, when he helped launch a digital agency. After struggling for several years, he gave up and started working for different companies.
He founded his current company, Mindgrub Technologies, in 2002. The company began in "the greater
Oella incubator," as Marks dubbed his basement, where he started working as an independent consultant.
When
Apple
An apple is an edible fruit produced by an apple tree (''Malus domestica''). Apple fruit tree, trees are agriculture, cultivated worldwide and are the most widely grown species in the genus ''Malus''. The tree originated in Central Asia, wh ...
unveiled the
iPhone in 2007, Marks decided to focus on that. He hired a full-time employee and quit his job as an IT consultant the next year.
As his company grew, Marks moved his office to
Catonsville
Catonsville is a census-designated place (CDP) in Baltimore County, Maryland, United States. The population was 41,567 at the 2010 census. The community lies to the west of Baltimore along the city's border. Catonsville contains the majority of th ...
and finally to
Locust Point, where he established a
Google
Google LLC () is an American multinational technology company focusing on search engine technology, online advertising, cloud computing, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, artificial intelligence, and consumer electronics. ...
-style relaxed office, complete with an event space, a ping pong table and a climbing wall.
The opening was attended by
Stephanie Rawlings-Blake
Stephanie C. Rawlings-Blake (born March 17, 1970) is an American politician and attorney who served as the 50th Mayor of Baltimore from 2010 to 2016, the second woman to hold that office. She has also served as secretary of the Democratic Nation ...
, the mayor of
Baltimore
Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...
.
From 2013 to 2015, the company hired about a dozen people each year,
growing to 60 full-time employees.
To build his team, Marks recruited computer science interns from the
University of Maryland, Baltimore County
The University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) is a public research university in Baltimore County, Maryland. It has a fall 2022 enrollment of 13,991 students, 61 undergraduate majors, over 92 graduate programs (38 master, 25 doctoral, ...
, where he was an adjunct professor of Instructional Technology.
He interviewed them while playing
Rock Band
A rock band or pop band is a small musical ensemble that performs rock music, pop music, or a related genre. A four-piece band is the most common configuration in rock and pop music. In the early years, the configuration was typically two guita ...
or
Wii Golf together for an hour, deducing their abilities from the way they played.
He also employed former
Big Huge Games
Big Huge Games, Inc. is an American video game developer based in Timonium, Maryland since 2000, known first for real-time strategy games such as ''Rise of Nations'', later for the console RPG '' Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning'', and more recentl ...
developers when that company went under.
Mindgrub engineers
mobile
Mobile may refer to:
Places
* Mobile, Alabama, a U.S. port city
* Mobile County, Alabama
* Mobile, Arizona, a small town near Phoenix, U.S.
* Mobile, Newfoundland and Labrador
Arts, entertainment, and media Music Groups and labels
* Mobile ( ...
and interactive
web apps
A web application (or web app) is application software that is accessed using a web browser. Web applications are delivered on the World Wide Web to users with an active network connection.
History
In earlier computing models like client-serve ...
, integrates social media and gaming. It also develops websites, marketing campaigns, and interactive media.
Marks expanded Mindgrub by founding three ancillary companies: Mindgrub Games, which uses Mindgrub software in gaming; viaPlace, which manages
augmented reality
Augmented reality (AR) is an interactive experience that combines the real world and computer-generated content. The content can span multiple sensory modalities, including visual, auditory, haptic, somatosensory and olfactory. AR can be de ...
; and Mindgrub Robotics, which develops autonomous indoor point-to-point delivery robots. Mindgrub has become a tech market leader,
working with big clients like
Exelon
Exelon Corporation is an American Fortune 100 energy company headquartered in Chicago, Illinois and incorporated in Pennsylvania. It generates revenues of approximately $33.5 billion and employs approximately 33,400 people. Exelon is the larges ...
, Pierce Atwood,
Wendy’s
Wendy's is an American international fast food restaurant chain founded by Dave Thomas (1932–2002) on November 15, 1969, in Columbus, Ohio. Its headquarters moved to Dublin, Ohio, on January 29, 2006. As of December 31, 2018, Wendy's was the ...
,
AOL
AOL (stylized as Aol., formerly a company known as AOL Inc. and originally known as America Online) is an American web portal and online service provider based in New York City. It is a brand marketed by the current incarnation of Yahoo (2017â ...
, and
Yamaha Yamaha may refer to:
* Yamaha Corporation, a Japanese company with a wide range of products and services, established in 1887. The company is the largest shareholder of Yamaha Motor Company (below).
** Yamaha Music Foundation, an organization estab ...
.
In 2015, Marks acquired 4Thought, a web design and online marketing firm.
Mindgrub expanded its web management by becoming a Fast Track partner with
Pantheon Systems, migrating all of its clients' websites to the platform.
Other activities
Marks has held lectures, tech workshops, and public discussions at different venues, such as Mid-Atlantic Developer Conference, TEDxBaltimore,
the NET/WORK fair,
South by Southwest
South by Southwest, abbreviated as SXSW and colloquially referred to as South By, is an annual conglomeration of parallel film, interactive media, and music festivals and Convention (meeting), conferences organized jointly that take place in m ...
, the Emerging Technology Forum (held at Mindgrub),
and hosted the Education Technology Innovation Summit.
Marks has written and contributed to several books on
Flash
Flash, flashes, or FLASH may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media
Fictional aliases
* Flash (DC Comics character), several DC Comics superheroes with super speed:
** Flash (Barry Allen)
** Flash (Jay Garrick)
** Wally West, the first Kid ...
and
Dreamweaver
Adobe Dreamweaver is a proprietary web development tool from Adobe Inc. It was created by Macromedia in 1997 and developed by them until Macromedia was acquired by Adobe Systems in 2005.
Adobe Dreamweaver is available for the macOS and Windows ...
.
He sits on the advisory board for
Loyola University's MBA program and is vice president of the Chesapeake Regional Tech Council.
Awards and recognition
In 2013, Marks was a ''
Baltimore Business Journal
American City Business Journals, Inc. (ACBJ) is an American newspaper publisher based in Charlotte, North Carolina. ACBJ publishes The Business Journals, which contains local business news for 44 markets in the United States, Hemmings Motor News ...
s honoree of 40 Under 40, an award spotlighting the business leaders under the age of 40 who excel in their industry.
He was a two-time nominee for the
EY Entrepreneur of the Year Award, in 2013 and 2014.
Marks was also named to the ''
Daily Record''’s list of Most Admired CEOs in 2013, 2019, and in 2021, an award identifying Maryland business executives for their accomplishments throughout their career.
In 2018, ''
Baltimore Magazine
''Baltimore'' magazine is a monthly magazine published in Baltimore, Maryland by Rosebud Entertainment L.L.C., a company owned by Steve Geppi and led by its President Michael Teitelbaum. It is the oldest, continuously published city magazine in ...
'' recognized Todd as a Baltimore Visionary in its list of 30 change-makers who are shaping the future of the city.
He was also elected to the board of directors for the Northeastern Maryland Tech Council (NMTC).
His company Mindgrub has won more than 30 awards and prizes for its products, growth, and company culture.
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Marks, Todd
Living people
American computer businesspeople
American computer programmers
Businesspeople from Syracuse, New York
People from Baltimore County, Maryland
Loyola University Maryland alumni
Year of birth missing (living people)