Michael Marks is a National Milken Educator and a former Mississippi Teacher of the Year, who was selected as America’s Outstanding Teacher of the Performing Arts. Currently National Executive Director of Schools Against Vaping, his educational service and leadership have included roles such as National Treasurer of the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards and Chair of the National Task Force on Early Childhood Education. Elected as a national officer of the National Education Association by 3.3 million American educators, he also served as national spokesperson for the Read Across America Program, appearing on NBC’s Today Show and MSNBC.

Stateside, he was elected president of The Mississippi Association of Educators by the state’s educators and, as MAE Executive Director, negotiated a 36% pay raise for teachers. Director of Speech and Debate at Hattiesburg Public Schools for 25 years, he produced over 50 stage productions. Under his leadership, Music Theatre International named Hattiesburg High School as America’s Best High School Performing Arts Department.

His debaters claimed 25 state titles; his thespians won four theatre state championships, three national first runner-up finishes, and a 40th Anniversary performance of Freedom Summer at the Southeastern Theatre Conference. His Tiger Mock Trial Team claimed 8 state titles and as many Top Ten finishes in national competition. Marks was named the Mississippi State Bar’s Law-Related Education Teacher of the Year. Having established the country’s first high school chapter of Equity Fights A.I.D.S., his theatre students have originated roles and performed in national shows and films from Broadway’s Hairspray, Gillette, Showboat and The Lion King; to films like Marvel’s Black Panther, The Magnificent Seven and Princess Diaries; to television’s Days of Our Lives and NCIS: New Orleans. It was also his profound honor to have coached Mississippi’s last Miss America.

Internationally, Marks represented America at the Education International Conference in Berlin; keynoted the India Teachers Conference in Mumbai; and has presented international workshops on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in Barbados as well as across the continental USA. His Hattiesburg High School cast of The Wiz traveled overseas to perform for the Queen of England, as part of the inaugural Top Ten American high schools in the International Theatre Festival in Edinburgh, Scotland.

Marks moved to Hattiesburg in 1974 as a 15-year-old graduate of Magnolia’s South Pike High School. Three years and a bachelor’s degree in Speech Communication later, he became the first Southern Miss African-American student to complete the university’s entire Honors College curriculum. At 19, he began his teaching career at Lumberton High School. With a master’s degree in Public Relations, he became an instructor of debate and musical theatre at Perry Central High School and later served as Director of Public Relations for Perry County Schools. He culminated his teaching career as principal of the state’s first dropout school. For a decade, he directed Public Relations at Forrest, the state’s largest hospital outside of Jackson.

As a Mississippi playwright, his HHS docudrama, The Katrina Project: Hell and High Water, toured the continental United States; enjoyed a command performance for the U.S. Congress; and received the National Human and Civil Rights Award. To date, continuing worldwide performances have generated over $500,000 in relief benefits for natural disaster victims. Marks is a co-author of the book, Katrina: Ten Years After. 

His impact on Mississippi continues with his civic contributions, include serving as the first African-American President of the Downtown Hattiesburg Association, Hattiesburg Municipal Elections Commissioner, Hattiesburg Tourism Commissioner, Mississippi Miss Hospitality Advisory Board, Pinebelt Foundation Development Chair, YMCA Board President, Sales & Marketing Professionals President, Hattiesburg Public School District Foundation Executive Director, Southern Miss Partners for the Arts, Southern Miss adjunct instructor and Alumni Association Board of Directors, Public Relations Association of Mississippi, Hattiesburg Arts Council Board, Pine Burr Area Scouts, Mayoral Health Council Chair, Omega Psi Phi Fraternity Achievement Week Committee and Retired Education Personnel of Mississippi.

 A lifetime member of the NAACP, he received The University of Southern Mississippi’s Martin Luther King Award. As CEO of Stage, Style & Study, his advocacy campaigns have included the COVID-19 Campaign, Pine Belt: This is Our Shot; and a successful governmental relations project, national EPA approval for the international distribution of Spartan Mosquito Products. 

His community and professional theatre credits include National Chair Secondary School Theatre Programs, National Steering Committee of National Arts Education Partnership, Mississippi Theatre Association Outstanding Director, Best MTA Actor, MTA Representative to Southeastern Theatre Conference (National All-Star Actor), Just Over the Rainbow Theatre President, Hattiesburg Civic Light Opera Board, Director Hattiesburg Coalition for the Arts, Laurel Little Theatre, Local Casting Director for Historia Films, Director finalist for Yale University’s Dramat, Summer Stock in Scottsbluff, Nebraska; University of Iowa Summer Acting Institute Instructor, Lifetime Achievement Honoree of Dance Art Dance, and Mississippi Arts Commissioner.

Marks is founding chair for Biloxi Catholic Forensic League, Hattiesburg Hall of Fame, Mississippi Vaccine Equity Initiative, as well as the Mississippi Pinnacle Awards. He has hosted a weekly talk show for Mississippi’s first minority-owned radio station, WJMG, and was recently inducted into the National Speech & Debate Hall of Fame. The son of two public school teachers, he continues his advocacy for teaching and learning as an educational consultant for HORNE’s national project for public school innovation. He was recently awarded the City of Hattiesburg’s highest civilian honor, the prestigious Hub Award.