THE BURNHAM GROUP

Mark Burnham founded The Burnham Group after more than 20 years advocating for universities, large research facilities, and associations in Washington.  After graduating from the University of Michigan with a B.A. in Political Science, he began his career on Capitol Hill on the staff of a now senior Member of Congress. There, he worked his way up to serving as the Congresswoman’s liaison to the House Appropriations Committee with a focus on appropriations for NASA, the National Science Foundation, NIST and the Veterans’ Administration.  His work included establishing a mental health research lab at the VA, increasing funding for NASA’s Earth Science Missions, and developing the legislative foundation for the World War II Memorial.  Following law school at Boston College, he worked on several major product liability cases for the law firm JonesDay.  

 

In 1998, Mark joined a lobbying firm representing several universities and science consortia where he worked on support for numerous large research projects, as well as several Federally Funded Research and Development Centers (FFRDCs).  This work involved not only advocating across numerous Congressional delegations and committees but also across a myriad of federal agencies, including NIH, NSF, DOE, NASA, NOAA, and NIST.

Five years later, Mark joined the University of Michigan Washington office as the Director of Federal Relations for Research.  There, he represented the largest federally funded research portfolio in the nation to the federal agencies and Congress.  Working across NSF, the Dept of Energy, NASA, the Department of Defense (6.1, 6.2 and DARPA) and the National Institutes of Health, Mark partnered with faculty to develop new relationships within the agencies, achieve support for the major research agencies from Congress and work within the various national associations to support community-wide efforts, including the Association of American Universities (AAU), the Association of Public and Land-Grant Universities (APLU) and the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC).  

 

In 2006, Mark was recruited to Michigan State University (MSU) to lead the effort to bring a Department of Energy national user facility to campus.  He worked with the Director of the National Superconducting Cyclotron Lab (NSCL) to craft an unsolicited proposal to the federal government, then worked with Congress to ensure DOE permitted the first open competition between a national lab and a university to run a major research institution.  MSU succeeded in winning the competition to build the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams (FRIB).  Ultimately, despite having to defeat efforts to defund the project before construction could begin, this $730 million major research facility was funded, built and will open for business in 2021.  Mark was also able to secure more than $97 million in support from the State of Michigan for the FRIB project, which is conservatively projected to have more than a $4 billion financial impact on the State of Michigan over the next 20 years.

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In 2013, Mark was promoted to Vice President of Governmental Affairs at MSU.  There he built a sophisticated operation which played a major role in the development of the last Farm Bill, led the effort to establish the second urban farm research station in the nation, secured TIGER grant funding for the development of a new multi-modal transportation center (including Amtrak), secured state funding for research and teaching facilities, and managed the plethora of policy impacts for a campus of 50,000 students, 12,000 employees with more than 500 buildings and the nation’s largest on-campus housing operation.

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Mark also serves as a Partner in a leading management consulting firm, Ideas for Action, LLC.  There he works with 

a team of professionals driven by a passion to empower the potential of people and organizations.  Mark serves as an executive coach and management consultant. Together with other members of the team, he has helped associations, colleges and universities develop superior leadership, address difficult issues, find creative solutions, and plan and execute extraordinary results. 

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Mark was also one of the founding members of the Additive Manufacturing Coalition, a 501(c)(6) trade association designed to educate and advocate on behalf of the entire additive manufacturing sector.  His role with the coalition required him to manage a diverse set of members, from fortune 100 companies and major research universities to small and medium-sized manufacturers and think tanks.  His work with the coalition gives Mark a true understanding of the challenges associations face and the need for clear strategic thinking.

 

Over the course of his 20-year career, Mark has amassed a deep understanding not only of how Congress and the Administration work, but also how universities, research associations, and businesses operate.  While there are a lot of advocates to choose from in Washington, none have the depth of knowledge and experience across such a wide number of agencies and institutions.