The Wellesley Men’s Group, sponsored by the Wellesley Service League, will hold its next meeting on Tuesday, November 14, 2017 from 2pm – 3pm at the Friendly Aid Building, 219 Washington St. Speaker, Mark Lenci served 30 years in the United States military and then moved to the private sector and a career in information technology. All senior men are invited to attend the lecture and enjoy refreshments and conversation. Please email or call Helen Goins at goins@usa.net or 781-690-7867 if you have any questions.

A veteran’s veteran

Mark’s military career spanned 30 years – 4 years at the US Air Force Academy and 26 years as a Navy officer. He was the first US Air Force Academy graduate to be selected by Admiral Hyman Rickover to cross commission into the Navy nuclear submarine force. He commanded the nuclear fast attack submarine USS Houston (SSN 713). Under his leadership, Houston was recognized as the most improved submarine in the Navy in 1993. Other attack submarine assignments included the USS Los Angeles (SSN 688), Engineer Officer of USS Tullibee (SSN 597), Navigator of USS Trepang (SSN 674), and Executive Officer of the USS Richard B. Russell (SSN 687). Mark made nine six-month deployments to the Atlantic, Pacific, Indian, Arctic Oceans; and the Mediterranean Sea.

Mark’s “Gold Dolphin” wardroom on deployment in the Western Pacific –
An extremely rare achievement where all officers have earned their gold dolphin submarine warfare pins.

OK, so I want us to get on board with this really cool thing called email…

Mark’s senior staff position was Assistant Chief of Staff for Command, Control, Communications and Computers for the US Seventh Fleet with responsibility for the Western Pacific and Indian Ocean area. Mark was a key leader in the US Navy’s efforts to rapidly insert commercial information technology to enable network centric warfare. He led the effort to put the first e-mail and productivity software on US Navy ships and to connect ships at sea via satellite to wide area networks. Mark was responsible for the development and implementation of “Collaboration at Sea”; a global, web-based, collaborative environment for mobile combat forces specifically for ships of US Navy carrier battle groups connected by intermittent, low bandwidth, satellite channels. This system is used by the US Navy and its allies today.

Mark’s work in the Navy with information technology led him to a second career in information technology, first with Lotus/IBM and, most recently, with Microsoft. The majority of his work at Microsoft was the development of hosted Microsoft software services such as email and real-time communications for businesses. These services are often referred to as “the cloud” or “cloud services” and are branded today as Microsoft Office 365. Cloud services have grown to one of Microsoft’s main businesses. Mark brought the first customer on board in 2005 and has subsequently specialized in the US federal, state, and local government segment of the business. Mark retired from Microsoft in 2013.

The family business

Mark is originally from Minnesota’s “Iron Range” – the iron ore mining area in northeastern Minnesota. His first job was in the family construction business, which was founded by his great-grandfather and grew to a regional enterprise under the direction of his grandfather. He attended the United States Air Force Academy and graduated with distinction in 1975. He took his commission in the Navy and attended Nuclear Power Training in Mare Island, California and Idaho Falls, Idaho. In 1980, Mark and his wife, Beverly, attended the Defense Language Institute in Monterey, California. He then studied business and international relations in the German language for two years at the University of Cologne, Germany, as an Olmstead Scholar. He has also earned a master’s degree in International Relations from Boston University.

Oh, just a few medals here and there

In 1991, Mark attended the Naval War College in Newport, Rhode Island and graduated with distinction. Mark’s military awards include the Legion of Merit with three gold stars, the Meritorious Service Medal with one gold star, and the Navy commendation with two gold stars. Ships that Mark has served on have earned four battle efficiency “E’s”; 3 Navy Unit Commendations; 2 Meritorious Unit Commendations; and multiple Navy Expeditionary Medals.

Come sail away

Mark is married to Beverly Dorfman Lenci of Wayne, Pennsylvania. He and Bev live in Natick, Massachusetts and have three children, Rebecca, Nicholas, and Amelia. Mark and Bev have a passion for sailing with friends and family in their 52-foot sailboat,
“Sunflower”. Mark holds a USCG 100 ton Masters License, a RYA/MCA Yachtmaster Ocean Certificate of Competence, and various other maritime certifications that support their long range sailing plans. He is a member of the Cruising Club of America and the New York Yacht Club.