LENZ, Mark
LENZ, Mark. A
Mr. Mark Lenz serves as the President of the Tennessee College of Applied Technology Nashville, a higher education institution within the Tennessee Board of Regents system, and he is responsible for every aspect of operations for the main campus and three satellites - Portland, Springfield, Only and Cockrill Bend.
Because of his personal and professional experiences, Mr. Lenz knows the value of skills development and that possessing a marketable skill set opens doors and future opportunities for our citizens that would ordinarily remained closed. As a young man, he was a lettered athlete and musician, held jobs that taught him the value of hard work, and believed in community involvement as evidenced by his participation in choirs, musical productions, and most notably, the boy scouts. In the boy scouts, he attained the rank of Eagle Scout and led his patrol in high adventure activities at Philmont Boy Scout Ranch backpacking in the Rockies, and a 145 mile canoe trip down the Pine and Manistee rivers in in Michigan. He led the winning patrol for the Klondike Derby in 1976.
An honored veteran, he served his country in the U.S. Navy, three years active and three years in the reserves, earning credentials in Basic Electronics & Electronics, Gunner’s Mate, and Gunner’s Mate Technician. He attained the rank of Petty Officer 2nd Class with military honors to include two humanitarian medals for his assistance in rescuing refugees off the coast of Vietnam and accommodations for nuclear weapons team training.
His post-military career included practical applications in several technical fields including welding, service repair, computer information technology and statistical analysis. After acquiring the skills needed to perform these essentials jobs, he entered leadership and training as an instructor, supervisor, and training manager. Most notably, he advanced throughout the Bosch Corporation where he completed an apprenticeship and then advanced. He developed training programs in problem solving, quality management, introduction to computers and the Bosch Leadership Program. Mark was a team leader for Robert Bosch North America and was the first to bring online learning to the Bosch organization, providing 385 online courses to 16,000 employees. Throughout his career he collaborated and provided instruction for educational organizations such as Trident Technical College, Midlands Technical College, Central Carolina Technical College, Troy State University, Southern Illinois University, U.S. Department of Labor, SAFE Federal Credits Unions of South Carolina, DMV of South Carolina, and Sumter County Industrial Development Board. For his contributions to Bosch, Mark received the 2009 “Silver Star of Excellence” award and was inducted into the National Technical Honor Society (NTHS) Educator Hall of Fame for initiating and developing Tennessee’s first Mechatronics program taught at TCAT Clarksville.
He holds a BS degree in Workforce Education and Development from Southern Illinois University, a Dual MA in Human Resources Development and Human Resource Management from Webster University, and is a Dale Carnegie graduate and recipient of the Silver Star of Excellence, which is the highest honor for technical training given by the American Technical Education Association. His hobbies include woodworking, beekeeping, Gospel and Barbershop Harmony singing.
Mr. Lenz is a family man with a wife, Jolette, who is a retired teacher and four married adult children and two awesome grandchildren.
See Lenz's introduction video here.