Meet Markus Mullarkey of the School Support Organization!

Markus "keeps the trains running on time" at Caliber Schools as the Chief Operations Officer. It is hard to believe that Markus joined the Caliber team 3 years ago. After many years of working in the business world, Markus became increasingly curious of the Charter education space. He was connected with Co-Founders, Ron Beller and Jennifer Moses by happenstance... and who knew that the perfect opportunity would be right in his backyard?! Markus grew up less than 2 miles from Beta Academy and went to Fairmont Elementary school before his family packed up and moved to Albany.  He is grateful to serve the neighboring East Bay community of Richmond! 

Words about Markus from Staff

• Markus is a cornerstone of the Caliber community in every possible way. Not only does he literally keep it operating, but he is always thoughtful, patient, and thorough with everything that he takes on -- whether it's a big project or simply an email asking for thought-partnership. I aspire to be more like Markus in every way.
• Markus is the strongest leader and hardest worker I know. Not only does he do everything right the first time, he takes the time to coach his team. He does so much behind the scenes and remains incredibly humble.
• There are no words to say how grateful I am to work with Markus! He's never too busy to stop and help his team, always has the answer no matter how tricky the question, and somehow always manages to stay CALM no matter what fires are thrown at him. Most importantly, he's kind and thoughtful which makes our office a really great place to be.

All about Markus!
1. What is your favorite thing about working at Caliber? 
It's the energy level: hands down.  I've never worked with a group of people who are so committed to what they are doing, and it's infectious.  I'm working harder than I ever have before and loving every minute of it.

2. What was your favorite subject growing up? 
I'm a bit ashamed to admit it, but my favorite subject was always math, but only because it was easy for me.  It wasn't until I was done with my formal education that I found the lifelong learner inside me.  Since then, I'd have to say that my favorite subject has been computer coding.  I don't have as much time as I'd like to tinker with it, but it's been one of the things that has resonated with me most about Caliber's academic model.

3. What is your favorite memory associated with music?   
I come from a camping family, and many of my fondest memories are sing-alongs around the campfire.  A few years I even got up the nerve to learn some guitar and get in on the action (badly, but hey, it's the effort that counts, right?).

4. If you could go on a dream vacation, what would you do + where would you go? 
That's a hard one.  I've actually had the good luck to travel more than any person sensibly should, and I actually don't have a "bucket list" of travel left to do.  One thing that I am really excited for, though, is taking my daughters where they want to go and re-seeing some of the old places through new eyes.  It's one of the great joys of parenthood to be able to get to do life's "firsts" over again!

5. What is your favorite thing about the Bay Area? 
I'm an outdoors person, so the weather has to be my #1 favorite thing about living here.  I can get outside pretty much 365 days a year, and we have access to so much natural beauty and such many different outdoor things to do.  Especially here in the East/North Bay!

6. What is one fun fact that most people don't know about you?
Most people can't spend much time with me before hearing about my awesomely large family.  I have something like 60-70 relatives who live in or within 15 minutes of Richmond, and I see my family literally 4-5 times a week.  What you might not know is that odds are that you probably see them too!  Pretty much every week someone in my family is telling me about a connection to Caliber that I didn't know about.  I've found out that one of you used to babysit for my cousins when you were in high school.  One of your siblings dated another cousin.  Many of you have worked with, went to school with. You might have met my family at the grocery store, or received a visit from my cousin the Richmond firefighter (without incident, hopefully!).  It's another thing I love about Caliber.  It feels like Caliber is a natural part of my extended family circle!

Thanks for all you do for Caliber, Markus!