Mark serves as senior program director for The Florida State University Center for the Advancement of Human Rights where he received one of several Guardian of the Flame Awards from Burning Spear presented to faculty from across the university in 2015 for outstanding service…“ Prior to joining FSU’s faculty in 2002 he held senior positions in state and federal government, including special counsel to Gov. Lawton Chiles; special advisor to Gov. Jeb Bush during his first several months in office; senior advisor to Gov. “Buddy” MacKay in Washington, D.C., when the governor was White House Special Envoy to the Americas during the final two years of the Clinton administration. Mr. Schlakman subsequently served as a Foreign Affairs Officer for the U.S. Department of State at the outset of the George W. Bush administration where he received a Superior Honor Award for his service at the White House and had follow-on assignments as a special assistant and interim foreign policy advisor to four-star Marine Corps. General Peter Pace, Commander, U.S. Southern Command, and as an Alternate Representative for the U.S. Permanent Mission to the Organization of American States (OAS). Mark received his B.A. from the University of Miami in Coral Gables, FL, graduating magna cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa and Phi Kappa Phi; and received his J.D. from the Georgetown University Law Center in Washington, D.C., where he served as president of the Student Bar Association and received the Dean’s Certificate at graduation. Following law school, he completed Harvard University’s Kennedy School post-graduate Program for Senior Executives in State and Local Government in Cambridge, MA. He was a member of the American Bar Association’s Florida Death Penalty Assessment Team.
