Areas of Experience

Mark Patterson is an ombuds and negotiation facilitator. He founded the Ombuds Office for California State University Channel Islands, and served on the President’s Advisor Council on Inclusive Excellence. Prior to working at CSUCI, Mark served as University Ombuds for the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia. Mark currently serves on the International Ombuds Association Board of Directors and co-chairs the Advocacy Committee for IOA. He previously served as co-chair for the IOA Conference Committee. He also serves as an instructor for the IOA’s Foundations of Organizational Ombuds course and is a member of the Planning Committee for the California Caucus of College and University Ombuds (“Cal Caucus”). Mark has presented at the IOA Annual Conference, at Cal Caucus and was a keynote speaker for National Conflict Resolution Day at Virginia Commonwealth University.

Previous to working as an ombuds, Mark was an award-winning and decorated judge advocate (military lawyer) in the U.S. Air Force, retiring at the rank of colonel in 2016. He served in Asia, Europe, and throughout the United States, with multiple deployments in Southwest Asia. He received a B.A. in journalism from Marietta College, Ohio; a J.D. from Duke University; and an LL.M. in International Dispute Resolution from Fordham University.