Meet the Board: Mark Wan
Mark WanMark Wan was elected Chair of POST’s Board of Directors in 2009. A distinguished venture capital specialist, Mark has brought a great deal of experience in business and entrepreneurship as well as a passion for the outdoors to POST since joining the Board in June 2003.
Mark’s professional life has revolved around the needs of healthcare companies during their startup phase. Formerly a general partner at Brentwood Associates, he helped found companies such as General Surgical Innovations, Odyssey Healthcare and Perclose Medical. In 1993, he co-founded the healthcare investment fund Three Arch Partners, where he has continued to search out new healthcare firms, often assuming temporary operating responsibility and managing key functions during a company’s early years. Residents of Woodside, Mark and his wife, Lisa, were co-chairs of POST’s 2005 “Under the Harvest Moon” dinner, a benefit for our Saving the Endangered Coast campaign.
Challenges
“Because POST is such a talented organization, I am excited about working more closely with Audrey [Rust] and the staff,” says Mark. “It is an interesting time to be in a leadership position, given the impact of the current economy on fund raising. There are definitely going to be challenges and opportunities ahead.”
Of the challenges, Mark explains, “I’m concerned that our public partners are going to have more limited resources to acquire properties from POST. It means POST will have to hold and manage properties even longer now, and ongoing support from our donors will be more important than ever.”
Opportunities
“On the opportunity side, it may be that more open space properties will become available, and POST must be ready to respond,” Mark says. “This is true not only along the coast, but in south Santa Clara County, where POST is the most experienced private organization capable of protecting large, undeveloped properties.”
An avid sports competitor, Mark likes to run the trails on POST-protected Windy Hill or ride his bike in the Tunitas Creek area. Properties along Skyline Boulevard are favorite haunts.
Part of Mark’s motivation for supporting POST stems from his experience growing up in Orange County at a time when there was no local organization like POST to acquire open land when it was for sale. The strawberry fields and orange groves of his youth, he says, became housing tracts and strip malls. By getting involved with POST, he saw an opportunity to prevent a similar conversion from happening here.
“Mark sits on many boards and management teams,” says POST President Audrey Rust, “and we have benefitted greatly from his help. He clearly understands the impact our work has on the future sustainability of our region, and he knows what could happen if we let the moment pass. At this critical time, I am heartened to know we have such an effective voice for the land guiding POST.”