Mark Santo was born and raised in Omaha NE.  Second generation American of Latin Immigrants on both sides of this family.  After graduating high school, he attended Basic Training in Ft. Knox KY followed by Advanced Infantry Training in Ft. Benning GA.  He later attended UNL with a focus on Construction Management although decided to take a more experience driven approach at learning the industry and joined a labor organization where he served a 4-year apprenticeship and achieved Journeyman credentials.  After working as a Carpenter, he quickly advanced to Foreman and then Superintendent.  Having a strong experience based string of successful projects Mark was engaged and deployed by a Defense Contractor spending nearly two decades overseas working on classified and sensitive projects for the United States Government. 

After returning home to Omaha from overseas in late 2006 Mark went to work as a Project Manager for an out of state Commercial General Contracting Company but that was short lived due to the onset of the worldwide economic downturn of 2008 also known as the Great Recession.   Mark was ultimately displaced and unemployed for over a year before meeting with NBDC and receiving encouragement and guidance which ultimately resulted in the launch of Mark VII Enterprises in mid-2010.   Since entering entrepreneurship Mark has developed skills beyond construction to include; accounting and bookkeeping, business administration, human resources and relations, strategic planning, and information technology.

Mark has focused on and leveraged the success of his young business by putting the highest emphasis on set asides such as EI, HUBZone, SDVOSB, SEB and Tier-I among others.  Because of this emphasis he has been recognized in the community as the top producing participant in the City of Omaha’s Tier-I Small business program and Omaha Public School’s Phase-I Bond programs.  In 2014, Mark VII Enterprises was awarded the “Government Contractor of the Year” by the Nebraska Business Development Center.  Santo is committed to serving and developing teaming relationships that bring diversity participation to the workplace.  In 2018, Mark Santo was awarded the 2018 Small Business Person of the Year Award by the US Small Business Administration.

He currently lives in Omaha with his wife and two daughters.