From David…

"How come he keeps talking about the Internet?"

That's the first question Mark asked Bill Schrader at dinner when I slipped out to the washroom. Bill introduced me to Mark earlier that day. The three of us spent the afternoon talking about my vision for self-directed neuroplasticity and how I imagined democratizing it using the same approach Bill and MARK used to commercialize the Internet. Protocols.

Mark was politely curious all afternoon, so it was time to get into it. I recounted my vision the night I read the Norman Doidge book The brain that changes itself from cover to cover until 4 AM and waited impatiently for Nathalie to wake up so I could tell her "neuroplasticity changes everything!!!"

I met Bill in 1995, living the early wave that became "the Internet changes everything" as my firm was building the Canadian commercial Internet backbone. I had not seen anything since then that had the potential to be as transformative as the Internet… and Bill agreed. We had many discussions before he introduced me to Mark, including one in which he said, about self-directed neuroplasticity,  "If anything is going to end the war, this is it."

We met again the next day and Mark agreed to take a deep look. A few weeks later, Mark shared a first draft of his vision for engineering self-directed neuroplasticity and technology-enabling it with an Internet platform. Back then platforms were just emerging.

I was overcome with joy because Mark clearly saw what I imagined, but from his incredible engineer’s brain.

Not long after, he agreed to be our CTO and we dug in with Jeff Chisholm, who by then had a tremendous command of the science that we needed.

Mark had a wonderful way about him. He was always calm and thoughtful, but you could tell there was a lot going on deep inside.

He was also clearly taken by the notion of personal transformation through self-directed neuroplasticity. As he went through NEXT training, it was thrilling and rewarding to see his own transformation, and the shifts it empowered in his engineering thinking.

There were many incredible steps along the way, including the first paper beta he led us to run because we didn't know enough to create a technology-enabled beta. He explained that we needed to "learn to walk before we could run."

The next challenge was to figure out how to build a first-generation technology platform with very little money. We were so early into the space that it was difficult to raise large amounts of funding.

He hunted around and found a wonderful organization called Remote Learner, and an internal champion who was their CTO, Page Chen. She was based in nearby Reston, VA where Mark and Vicki lived and worked at their Vineyard and winery.

In an unusual moment of exuberance, he called me to say that he thought we could “do it for $60,000”. Incredulous, I asked $60,000 what? Per month? For how many months?

"No.” he said, “$60,000 in total.” I had funded a lot of software for $millions over the years in my career as a technology investor, so the number seemed impossible. But indeed, he, Jeff and Page pulled it off. We had our first working technology platform delivering training that no one had ever seen before.

By now I'm sure you get the point. Mark was a quiet genius, an incredible teammate, and a true believer in the power of self-directed neuroplasticity for human transformation.

Supporting him was his wonderful wife Vicki, who trained to be a NEXT Guide and a member of our leadership team. The only thing better than Mark or Vicki was the two of them together, as a married couple, on our team.

Of course, we now call self-directed neuroplasticity “neuro-literacy” which fuelled our enthusiasm even more, because we drew the connection between basic and functional literacy people learn in school, and computer and Internet literacy that people learn in daily life… thanks to Mark, Bill, Marty, and the other visionaries that helped create the Internet of today that the world essentially runs on.

By validating our vision and engineering the approach, Mark provided an opportunity to once again change the course of humankind for the better.

Thank you Mark and Vicki, from the bottom of my heart.

Love and light,

David

From Nathalie…

Mark, a visionary and pioneer, played an instrumental role in shaping the commercial internet as we know it today. As the former CTO of NEXT Ltd., his engineering talent and creativity were crucial in developing our technology platform, enabling us to scale neuro-literacy training.

He aspired to heal our fragmented world through an engineering approach to self-directed personal development training. We are deeply grateful for his talent and dedication.

Though Mark was quiet, his words were always thoughtful and intelligent.
Mark, and his wife Vicki, have been wonderful team members. Mark's contributions at NEXT have left an indelible mark, and his vision continues to inspire our direction.

With love and admiration,

Nathalie