This document provides a summary of Mark Elfers' experience and qualifications. It outlines his background as a Naval Academy graduate, Naval Aviator, and Marine Corps Harrier jet squadron Chief Executive with over 17 years of experience in strategic planning, problem solving, and process improvement. It also summarizes some of his key professional roles turning around an underperforming aviation squadron, increasing production rates for the F-35B joint strike fighter, and strategic planning in Afghanistan.

1. MARK W. ELFERS
252-646-1868 ! markelfers@gmail.com
Energetic and focused strategic planner, levelheaded leader, and sound decision maker
able to solve complex problems and implement long-term solutions. Honest assessor,
consensus builder, and gifted motivator who consistently leads the team in the right
direction.
PIVOTAL STRENGTHS
SUMMARY US Naval Academy Engineering graduate, Naval Aviator, Strategic
Planner, and Marine Corps Harrier jet squadron Chief Executive with the
intellect, work ethic, and drive to succeed. Over 17 years experience
bringing order to chaos as an organizational strategist, complex problem
solver, and director of process improvement.
Building and
Leading
Elite Teams
Chosen from highest performing peers to serve as chief executive and
change agent for a failing aviation organization. Authored and set the
turnaround plan into motion. Built and steered a new leadership team
through extraordinarily turbulent times and achieved superlative results
within five months.
Strategic
Planning
Selected from hundreds of applicants to join the US Marine Corps’ elite
strategic/operational planning school. Awarded the Clifton Cates award
for planning solving excellence. Became the ‘go to’ strategic planner for
all chief executive officer level leaders in Afghanistan. Pioneered and
supervised the implementation of an aviation logistics strategy in
Helmand province. Uncovered critical insights from environmental
trends and developed thoughtful data-backed recommendations. Drove
plan’s implementation across the entire enterprise. Efforts led to two
new expeditionary landing sites for helicopters and unmanned aircraft.
Forging
Relationships
Developed, negotiated, and sealed an international training initiative to
address a lack of partner interoperability. Required over 12 months of
innumerable one-on-one negotiations with principals and representatives
from the Italian Navy, US Embassy Rome, and the US Marine Corps.
Cross-
Disciplinary
Management
Led USAID, UK Government Provincial Reconstruction Team, US
Army, and US Marine Corps leaders through design of the 2014
Helmand Province vision. This product was used as the future desired
end state for all subsequent long-range planning.
Persuasive
Communicator
Seasoned presenter and published author of articles relating to leadership,
planning, and campaign design. Excellent communicator able to engage
all from the newest associate to the Chief Executive or President.

2. MARK W. ELFERS
252-646-1868 ! markelfers@gmail.com
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
Chief Executive, Marine Attack Squadron 214, March 2014-Present
Directly responsible for all facets of a Harrier jet squadron worth over $600M. Turned around an
underperforming organization.
• Developed and communicated a winning strategic vision which all team members could
understand. Used this vision as the touchstone throughout the turnaround effort.
• Studied leadership team. Replaced those whose performance did not match strategic vision.
• Analyzed aviation logistics and maintenance capacity and found multiple weakness. Sought
subject matter expertise and implemented a detailed training plan that prioritized process
quality over production rate.
• Mapped production and maintenance processes to find constraints and waste. Established
new standard operating procedures to ensure production outpaced neither maintenance
manpower nor supply chain capacity.
Within 12 months:
• 400% improvement: maintenance programs went from 15% ‘on track’ to over 93% ‘on track.’
• 200% improvement: went from accomplishing 40% of FY14 assigned production goals to
over 95% of FY15 goals with no increase in manpower or materiel resources.
• Achieved highest production rates of all five USMC Harrier squadrons not deployed.
Director, US Marines’ Joint Strike Fighter Current Readiness Team, June 2013-March 2014
Tasked with increasing production and removing barriers associated with F-35B flight operations.
• Extensively studied, mapped, and charted F-35B readiness degraders’ effects on flight time
and sortie production. Found constraints, waste, and superfluous bureaucratic overhead
stifling execution.
• Authored and presented detailed technical solutions for the enterprise’s executive leadership
to eliminate or reduce all from the most simple to the most vexing issues.
• Efforts contributed to over 300% increase in flight hour generation, from less than 60 hours
per month to nearly 200 hours per month.
Vice President for Strategy equivalent, Helmand Province, Afghanistan, June 2010-Dec 2011
Tasked with solving long-range, long-standing, and complex strategic problems threatening mission
accomplishment.
• Led strategic planning to define the 2014 end state of the Helmand and Kandahar Provinces.
• Conceived the strategic design methodology and tactical details of the USMC's drawdown
efforts from over 22,000 service members to below 10,000 for the senior Commanding
Generals in Afghanistan.
• Guided a study of aviation operational assessments that led to a strategic assessment concept,
which blended production capacity, historical data, and enemy kinetic activity. Outcome
resulted in decreased casualty evacuation response times as well as increased force protection
and kinetic fire support to all coalition service members.
EDUCATION
• Lean Six Sigma Green Belt Trained, 2015
• Master of Operational Planning, Marine Corps School of Advanced Warfighting, 2010
• Bachelor of Science, Aerospace Engineering, United States Naval Academy, 1995