Mark A. Focht was appointed Executive Director of the Fairmount Park Commission by Mayor Street and Park Commission President Nix in August 2005.  Mark is responsible for management of the 9,200 acre, 63 park Fairmount Park system with a staff of 210 employees and an operating budget of $16.7 million.  Prior to his appointment, Mark served as director of the Park’s Environment, Stewardship & Education Division, an unprecedented multi-million dollar effort to restore the natural areas throughout the Fairmount Park system and to build a constituency for their protection.

Prior to joining Fairmount Park in 1997, Mark was director of capital projects for the Center City District, a business improvements district, where he directed the $26 million Walk!Philadelphia streetscape improvement project.  In addition to his degree from Penn State, Mark holds a Masters degree in landscape architecture from the University of Massachusetts and has been an adjunct professor in Temple University’s Department of Landscape Architecture and Horticulture since 1989.

Mark lectures extensively, serves on the Boards of several organizations and was recipient of Penn State’s 2007 Arts and Architecture Alumni Achievement Award.