Director, Office of Employer Initiatives
Mark M. Ellison joined the Texas Workforce Commission as director of the Office of Employer Initiatives to guide the agency's efforts to increase responsiveness to changing employer needs and ensure strong business involvement in the activities of the Texas Workforce Commission (TWC).
Having extensive experience in the private and public sectors, Ellison serves as a liaison with employer groups, economic development organizations, trade associations in close coordination with the local workforce development boards, and is a member of the Texas Economic Development Council (TEDC) and the International Economic Development Council (IEDC). His Office actively collaborates with the Office of the Governor, Economic Development & Tourism (EDT) division specific to retention, recruitment and expansion efforts as they relate to workforce and will play a defining role in developing business alliances in targeted high-growth industry clusters. These alliances will serve to assess the clusters and advise TWC on how the agency's programs, policies and rules affect and can better support employers statewide.
Before joining TWC, Ellison worked closely with banks, venture capital firms and local economic development entities as a partner in a specialty investment banking firm that developed financing packages and business development services for large and small businesses.
As Assistant Commissioner of Marketing and Agribusiness Development for the Texas Department of Agriculture (TDA) from 1991-1996, Ellison led domestic and international marketing and economic development efforts for the agency. Prior to TDA, he gained experience in governmental affairs as international trade consultant for U.S. Wheat Associates in Washington D.C. and Casablanca, Morocco, then continued in Casablanca as a marketing specialist and international trade policy consultant for clients in the retailing, consumer electronics and agricultural commodity industries. Ellison also has served as a congressional staff assistant for then U.S. Representative W. R. (Bob) Poage.
A fifth generation Texas, Ellison grew up on a family ranch in Rosebud, Texas, and is the father of two children: Sam and Ilana. He earned a Bachelor of Science degree cum laude in Agriculture from Texas A& M University.
