Mark J. Ladd has over 30 years of management experience leading design and technical innovation for large multi-national design and emerging companies. Mark is currently the CEO of Malex Holdings, which encompasses the real estate investment arm of Monarch Equities as well as venture capital and private equity investment entities of Malex Enterprises and Ladditude Ventures.
Previously, Mark led multi-disciplinary design and technical teams while managing the implementation of an extensive portfolio of large-scale built environment projects around the world for Skidmore Owings & Merrill, LLP (SOM), including managing the design of the new NATO HQ in Brussels (2.7M SF), the SSA’s new National Support Central Office & Data Center in Maryland (Tier III at 275K SF), and the Chemsunny Headquarters in Beijing (1.5M SF), and was a part of the design management team for the 15-acre, 2.5 million square U.S. Patent & Trademark Office campus located in Alexandria, Virginia which represents the largest build-to-suit leaseback project ever completed by the General Services Administration. In addition, Mark was part of SOM’s leadership committee for firmwide strategic technology initiatives and platform implementation, including leading the development of the building information modeling (BIM) environment, data visualization, and 4D & Lean construction assembly.
Mark was recruited to become the Managing Director for Millennium Development Group, LLC, the national real estate development company from the partnership of U.S. Equities Realty and national general contractor Walbridge to focus on the development of Federal build-to-suit leaseback projects. Through the combined resources of both companies, Millennium provided Asset Management, Construction, Development, Leasing, Property Management and Real Estate Consulting services to its public sector clients.
He began his career at Knight Architect Engineers Planners, a subsidiary of Lester B. Knight & Associates, where he was a marketing coordinator for the firm’s commercial real estate division. Mark then became the Business Development Manager of the Midwest Region for STV Group, a multinational architectural and engineering firm. He assisted in growing the firm’s Chicago office, as well as establishing a St. Louis and Milwaukee presence, and directly contributed to doubling the region’s revenues in his tenure with the firm.
Mark received his Master of Architecture from the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) with a concentration in Digital Media where he received multiple awards for his design portfolio projects. His own professional design work has been published and he has served as a guest critic on numerous architectural design juries. In 2007, Mark received the John Wellborn Root Award from the AIA Illinois Chapter which is bestowed to an outstanding young architect, and he was also named as one of Building Design & Construction magazine’s “40 Under 40” in 2008. He earned his Bachelor’s degree in Literature and Medieval History from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC). During his undergraduate tenure, he studied abroad at Corpus Christi College at Oxford University, Oxford, England. Mark also studied at the Strategic Technology Management (STM) program at UIUC College of Engineering.
Mark served on the seven-member board of the Capital Development Board (CDB) for the State of Illinois from 2002-2012 after having been appointed as the youngest board member in its history by the Governor of Illinois. Mark is also a Member of the American Institute of Architects (AIA); National Council of Architectural Registration Boards (NCARB) registered; and the U.S Green Building Council (USGBC); as well as a member of the Economic Club of Chicago. Mark currently serves on the Board of Trustees at Silicon Couloir in Jackson Hole and is a member of the Economic Club of Chicago.