Mark Coopersmith

An educator, business leader, and entrepreneur, Mark has spent more than 25 years building and advising high growth businesses ranging from Silicon Valley startups to global enterprises. He draws upon those experiences in the classroom, in his writings, and in speeches, working with students, executives and public sector leaders around the world. In 15 years at UC Berkeley as a Senior Fellow, Lecturer, and Executive Faculty Director, Mark’s teaching has focused on entrepreneurship, corporate entrepreneurship, innovation and leadership. He drives learning and results by linking theory and frameworks with real cases, practical tools, and proven techniques.

In addition to teaching, Mark has launched and led numerous businesses at the intersection of technology, media and brands for companies such as Sony (built a new division from $0 to $150 million in five years) and Newell Rubbermaid (restructured and managed a $400 million technology group assembled through acquisition); has built successful startups (his e-commerce company WebOrder is now owned by Google, ETwater addresses global water scarcity), advises leadership teams at companies such as Intel and DirecTV, and sits on a number of boards.

Mark is the founding Author in Residence at the Nasdaq Stock Exchange’s Entrepreneurial Center, where he shares lessons on launching and growing businesses, and also insights from his recent book “The Other “F” Word,” co-authored with John Danner and published by John Wiley and Sons. He has also shared those perceptions and messages in talks and working sessions with leadership teams from Google, IDEO, Salesforce, Oracle, Wells Fargo Bank, Daimler Benz, Samsung, Genentech and many more.

Mark has mentored, guided and taught teams which have launched exciting new ventures in sectors as varied as web services, consumer electronics, medical devices, education, cancer research and fashion.

He is a frequent media commentator, with insights featured in The Economist, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, The Financial Times, Fast Company and Entrepreneur; and on CNN, Fox News, NPR and The Huffington Post.

Mark earned his BA and MBA degrees at UC Berkeley. He lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with his college sweetheart, with whom he has two children, and enjoys mountain biking, skiing, tennis and cooking.