Mark W. Ellis

Senior Construction Manager, Kroger Company
Lieutenant Colonel, United States Air Force Reserves

Mark Ellis traces the success of his long military career and professional civilian life back to 1990, when he received an opportunity from Salt Lake Community College during his third year at West High School. SLCC was offering juniors and seniors the chance to take part in the college’s new Academy of Finance. Ellis accepted the challenge and began taking concurrent enrollment classes in business and math during after school hours.

A football injury postponed his plan to attend the Air Force Academy immediately after high school. Instead, Ellis continued his studies at SLCC. He dabbled academically and eventually landed a job with Packard Bell in Magna. Two years after high school, Ellis felt comfortable in his life, but after four years of college classes with no degree, Ellis said his dad engaged in a little “passionate mentoring,” urging him to apply to the Air Force Academy.

Ellis entered the Air Force Academy in 1995 and remained on active duty status until transitioning in 2007 to the Air Force Reserves, where he is presently a lieutenant colonel. The general education coursework he took at the Air Force Academy transferred to SLCC, where he had already completed dozens of credit hours. When his SLCC diploma arrived in the mail, he promptly sent it to his father. He later earned an undergraduate degree in electrical engineering as well as an MBA and a master’s degree in Military Operational Art and Science.

Ellis looks back on his SLCC experiences as laying the foundation for who he is today. In his current job as a construction manager at Kroger Company, he recognizes the institution’s important role in providing career opportunities and sees the college continuing to give others the early direction he received many years ago.