Mark L. Ridely is a retired Lieutenant Colonel, United States Army, with 23 years of active duty service. He holds a Masters of Science in Adult Occupational and Continuing Education from Kansas State University. He is currently working as an Associate with Booz Allen Hamilton consulting the Maneuver Center of Excellence, Fort Benning, GA, on Strategic Plans and Strategy.
He has seven years of experience in higher education. He served as the Professor of Military Science at Columbus State University (CSU) for four years. He took a ROTC program from 25 Cadets to 125 Cadets in three years. After his retirement, he became the Director for Military Affairs at Columbus State University (CSU). He was the Principle Investigator for the Soldiers2Scholars and Adult Learner Consortium (ALC) Grants within the State of Georgia. He was a voting member on the State of Georgia’s Board of Regents (BOR) Adult Learning Consortium. He made four recommended changes to the Georgia BOR on military policies. He introduced the concept of “Reverse Transcripts” to CSU. He was responsible for the Articulation Agreement between CSU’s AA in Engineering and Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. He conceptualized, coordinated, and supervised the implementation of five new degree programs targeting Military Students; Bachelor of Arts in Liberal Arts (Military and Global Issues), Army Medical Certificate, Maneuver Captains Career Course, Robotics Certificate, and Army Captains Career Course. Results of one such program: 75th Ranger Regiment Medical Degree Certificate is responsible for the graduation rate increase from less than 50% to 85-90% graduation rate for the Special Operations Medical Course. He strategically developed, coordinated, and assisted in the implementation of a Robotics Degree Program in response to Fort Benning becoming the lead in all ground unmanned systems for the Army. He provided critical liaison between Department of the Army and CSU in order for CSU to become one of only four Universities in the Nation to provide Modeling and Sims Officers to the Army. He supervised the Department of Veterans Affairs Office and Department of Army Compliancy regulations for Educational benefits in excess of $3 million revenue at CSU. He was responsible for the increased enrollment of Active Duty, National Guard, and Reserve Soldiers from 50 to 218. Total revenue generated by this increase; $758,716.