About Mark

The Summit Master

In every facet of his life, Mark Pattison scales personal and professional summits. Mark is a former NFL Player, philanthropist, podcaster and successful entrepreneur & currently an executive at Sports Illustrated and now has climbed all Seven Summits having completed this feat by scaling the death-defying Mt. Everest in the spring of 2021. Mark dedicated his climb to his daughter Emilia who is overcoming her own Everest by defeating epilepsy. Mark has raised over $60,000 with generous donations from many individuals, the NFL and Las Vegas Raiders. All proceeds go to Higher Ground.

In the Fall of 2021, the NFL debuted a documentary called Searching for the Summit about Mark’s epic journey he experienced on Mt Everest. This 30 minute film can now be seen on NFL360 - click here to watch.

Mark's podcast, Finding Your Summit has over 200,000 downloads after 250 episodes which provides powerful conversations with celebrities, sports legends and others about overcoming their adversity and finding their way.

Mark is a father and caring human being who continually looks for opportunities to give back to others and now organizing a Seven Summit/Summit in Sun Valley, Idaho June 2-5th in 2022. He helps people get off the sidelines and back into the lane of life by unleashing their potential & realizing what they are capable of in their lives.

Having been a teammate, climbing partner and friend of Mark's for over 35 years, I can say without hesitation that he is a man of tremendous integrity, moral conviction and mental toughness.  His ability to both lead from the front and be a core team member speaks to both his strength of conviction as well as his selfless attitude.  Mark has a vision and an energy that others are naturally drawn to, his ability to inspire others with both his words and actions are beyond compare.  This is a man that has reached the highest peaks professionally as an NFL player, in business as an entrepreneur, as a father and as a high altitude mountain climber.

Jim Mora

UCLA Head Football Coach

The Backstory

Throughout his entire life, Mark has worked hard to achieve massive results. Here is a small sampling of his success in multiple disciplines.

Football

  • High School:
    • High School All American (Junior as WR, Senior as QB)
    • Inducted into Hall of Fame 2005
  • College:
    • University of Washington
    • 2 Rose Bowls and 2 Aloha Bowls, 1 Orange Bowl including winning catch.
    • Played under legendary Hall Of Fame coach Don James
    • Inducted into Hall of Fame 2016
  • NFL:
    • Played 5 years.
    • Drafted in 7th Round by LA Raiders.
    • Played with New Orleans Saints.
    • Member of NFLPA

Entrepreneurial Life

  • CEO & Co-Founder of The Pattison Group, a branding merchandising company. A successful multi-million dollar business for 15 years with three core target areas for market penetration. 1) Direct Marketing 2) Online Sales 3) Partnerships. Starbucks, Microsoft and Amazon part of the client base.
  • CEO & Co-Founder of Front Porch Classics, a venture-backed company that was acquired by University Games. Front Porch Classics invented the term Coffee Table Games. FPC focused on creating games to interact between Dad's and their kids. Investor backed, FPC won Toy of the Year in 2001 and 2002, the product was sold in over 700 different retail locations and distributed in 7 countries. The company was sold in 2006. Mark’s responsibilities were to help create the marketing plan, fundraise, manufacture, warehouse, partnerships and sell.
  • SVP of Business Development for Scout.com. Scout is a sports digital media company which was sold to CBS Interactive in 2017.
  • SVP of Business Development for The Arena Group.  As part of the founding group, Mark helps to bring in digital properties like the History Channel or Biography Channel to the Arena Group which powers them with world class technology. In 2019, The Arena Group acquired The Street and also entered into a long term license deal to run Sports Illustrated. Mark has helped take Sports Illustrated from #15 to #5 on Comscore which ranks the top sports web properties. In just over five years, the company now generates over 150 million dollars in revenue and is poised to go onto the NYSE in 2022.

Philanthropy

  • In 2020, Mark created a new campaign called Emilia’s Everest, the Lhotse Challenge. The goal was to raise $27,940 which was accomplished. The NFL social justice department and the Las Vegas Raiders also donated to the cause. All proceeds go to Higher Ground.
  • In 2019, Mark organized and raised $29,800 for a project called Emilia’s Everest. Mark’s daughter, Emilia has epilepsy and the event held in Sun Valley, Idaho raised both money and awareness for the National Epilepsy Foundation.
  • In 2017, Mark partnered with Chris Long of the Philadelphia Eagles and raised over $46,000 to build water wells for the people of Tanzania through his foundation, Waterboys. They brought awareness to the cause by climbing Mt Kilimanjaro with other NFL Players and War Hero veterans in 2017.
  • In 2013, Mark also raised $10,000 for inner-city kids of Los Angeles during his Mt. Kilimanjaro climb in 2013.  http://westcoastsports.org/
Meeting Planner?

Invite Mark to Keynote Your Event

While most people talk about achievement, Mark has actually DONE it, multiple times through his Pyramid of Success formula! Who better to talk to your audience or team about setting big goals (NFL, Mt Everest, Sports Illustrated) and then attacking them than Mark? He's got the experience, credibility and business chops to back it up. PLUS, 10% of Mark's speaking fee will be donated to Emilia's Everest Challenge through Higher Ground, a not-for-profit dedicated to bridging the gap between disability and belonging.

Learn More About Booking Mark For Your Event