Mark J. Ballam recently retired from San Diego State University, where he served as Managing Director of the Wendy Gillespie Center for Advancing Global Business in the Fowler College of Business. He led strategic planning, budgeting, and outreach efforts, and managed a $1.2 million U.S. Department of Education CIBER grant—his fifth, and the university’s eighth award under this prestigious program.
Throughout his tenure, Mark helped elevate SDSU’s global engagement, growing its nationally ranked International Business program and securing over $10 million in external funding to support international initiatives. Before joining SDSU in 2005, he held leadership roles at Georgia Tech and built a successful career in banking. Read more He currently serves as President of the San Diego Diplomacy Council’s Board of Directors and has held national leadership roles with the Association for International Business Education, the National Association of District Export Councils, the San Diego and Imperial District Export Council, and SDSU’s International Affairs Council. Mark holds a bachelor’s degree from Clark University and an MBA from the Georgia Institute of Technology. His passion for the Diplomacy Council stems from a lifelong belief in the power of citizen diplomacy to foster global understanding, collaboration, and peace.
