Mark Dresdner is an expert at creating and building companies and increasing the value of real estate. He is also an investor in alternative assets: private equity, private credit and commercial real estate.
Mark created, ran, and sold multiple My Salon Suite stores. He created real estate spaces that allow beauty professionals to rent a suite to create their own salon. Mark earned My Salon Suite’s Fastest to Fill award in 2021 due to his track record with his first store. He sold his locations to a strategic buyer. Mark has prior franchise experience. He is the franchise owner of an Office Evolution coworking space in Hackensack, New Jersey, which he created in 2016. Office occupancy reached 100% the fastest of any of the 70+ Office Evolution locations. The business has consistently been a top financial performer within the franchise, earning the Best Revenue-to-Rent Ratio award in 2019 and Highest Virtual Office Revenue award in 2020. Mark was awarded Rookie of the Year in his first year and the Ohana award in 2019 for adding value to franchise. He was elected to the Franchise Advisory Council for three years. In addition, Mark advised Office Evolution’s CEO and leadership team as a paid consulting engagement. Mark is an active commercial real estate investor in New Jersey. He’s an investor in several properties. As a co-founder of a startup, Babelcube, he disrupted the book translation market and led the company from idea to cash flow positive in eight months. Babelcube sells over a million books per year. Mark exited the business after building it up. Mark’s zeal for revenue maximization was ignited when he managed revenue strategies worldwide for Starwood Hotels and Resorts (900 properties). He oversaw pricing strategy for $6.5B of annual revenue. An acute focus on delivery of results became an ingrained habit for Mark while at Macquarie’s (ASX:MQG) private equity fund. His role was to turnaround struggling portfolio companies. There he led the development of an online marketing strategy for a portfolio company. As a result, e-commerce revenue increased over 100% and the new website was awarded the 2009 Best Transportation Website by the Web Marketing Association. With Rein Capital, a venture capital firm, Mark played an active, hands-on role building startups. In one situation, he helped revive a software startup on the verge of bankruptcy by redefining the business strategy, and particularly the product portfolio. Cisco acquired the company for $125m two years later. Mark became addicted to developing strategy as a team while at Accenture, specializing in strategy consulting. He provided strategic advice to the leadership at Fortune 500 companies. Through a mix of executive and consulting positions, Mark learned to design and rollout change in a myriad of situations. For example, he lead revenue strategies and pricing as Division Vice President at Universal Weather and Aviation, a global leader in support products and services for business jet operators with more than $1B in annual sales. There he designed an artificial intelligence pricing engine for fuel, increasing gross profit by >40%. Mark also reinvented the way the company sells services from al a carte to packages and subscriptions. Initiatives he spearheaded increased company EBITDA by >50%. Mark earned a Bachelor of Engineering (Valedictorian and First Class Honors) from the University of New South Wales, Australia, Certificate in Commercial Real Estate from Cornell University, and an MBA (Beta Gamma Sigma) from the Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University. Mark lives in New Jersey. When he is not working, he is exercising or having fun with his amazing wife and three full-of-life children. |
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“I asked Mark to join me at Universal based on my experiences with him at a prior company. His hands-on approach to business growth starts with identifying strategic opportunities and continues right through to delivering results. Mark thrives in diverse situations from facilitating creative brainstorming to guiding technical implementation details. Much of his ability to realize results is due to his leadership approach, including promoting team collaboration and setting an example by “rolling up his sleeves” to help when he can add value.”
Mark Carmen, President, Universal Weather and Aviation "Mark helped us access a startup opportunity. He provided excellent financial insight combined with business acumen and helped us navigate the decision process with data rather than guess work. He is super smart, a professional in every sense and always delivers on the project.” Jodi Samuels, Co-Founder, JMarketing Connections |
