Mark J. Perniconi

Mark was born and raised in suburban Chicago and entered Purdue in the fall of 1970. During his undergraduate years, Mark participated in the Co-Op Program with Chicago Bridge and Iron Company with work sessions at several locations in the Chicagoland area. Mark received his BSCE in December of 1974 and immediately entered graduate school as a teaching assistant in Civil Engineering that included teaching the estimating lab class and grading papers for Professors Hancher and Havers. Mark received his MSCE degree in May of 1976.

Upon graduation with the MSCE degree, Mark accepted a position with the W.W. Lyles Company in Fresno, California, where he spent the next seven years on numerous large and small infrastructure projects throughout Central and Northern California. Mark returned to Purdue in the fall of 1983 to attend the Krannert Graduate School of Management and earned an MBA degree in December of 1984. While at Krannert, Mark met his lifelong partner, Jani Thompson, in the fall of 1984.

At the suggestion of Donn Hancher, Mark interviewed at Charles Pankow Builders in his last semester at Krannert and eventually accepted a position with the Pankow Companies in Los Angeles. Unbeknownst to Mark at the time, this began an association with Charles Pankow that continues (albeit not continuously) to this day. At the Pankow Companies, Mark headed up all of the company’s real estate development activities throughout the country and allowed him to work closely with “Charlie” Pankow.

Mark left the Pankow Companies in 1997 and eventually accepted a position with the C.E. John Company and relocated to Vancouver, Washington, where Jani and Mark continue to live today. From 1997 to 2008, Mark was involved in retail development and construction – first with the CE John Company in the Portland, Oregon/Vancouver, Washington, area – then Westfield Corporation in Roseville, California. Mark left Westfield in 2008 and spent the next four years enjoying the Great Recession.

In early 2012, Mark was contacted by an old Pankow friend and offered the opportunity to replace Bob Tener, upon his retirement, as the Executive Director of the Charles Pankow Foundation. Mark describes the work at the Charles Pankow Foundation as the “best job ever invented” not the least of which is the opportunity to be a civil engineer again and continue the legacy of his late friend – Charlie Pankow. Mark has also been a member of the Civil Engineering Advisory Council for the last three years.