Mark Holbrook(III)

Mark Holbrook is recently retired as the executive director for the Marion Area Convention and Visitors Bureau. Prior to that, Mark served as the marketing director at the Ohio History Connection for nine years where he also served as Civil War Historian. He has been a consultant for tourism and history-based organizations for 20 years. Mark is a native Ohioan, graduate of The Ohio State University and an avid student of history. He also is the owner of History is Personal, a consulting firm that specializes in tourism and heritage destination development.

Mark is the editor of the book The Buckeye Vanguard about the 49th Ohio Volunteer Infantry (2010) and the author of the novel, The Haven: A Light in the Darkness published in 2023. Mark spent 28 years exploring the lives of American soldiers from the Civil War and World War II as a reenactor. Mark served as military coordinator for the film Light of Freedom released in the fall of 2013 and had a supporting role in the 2015 film Wings of the Wind in 2015. He also has appeared in two WOSU Television's Columbus Neighborhoods series and on an episode of Mysteries at the Museum on The Travel Channel. Mark served on the Civil War Sesquicentennial Advisory Committee for the state of Ohio, coordinating the opening and closing events for the state's commemoration of its participation in the war. He has been a member of the Ohio Humanities Speakers Bureau for fifteen years.