Mark Patterson

About Mark

Mark Patterson is a Certified Organizational Ombuds with more than eight years of experience helping people navigate workplace conflict, organizational change, communication breakdowns, and complex institutional processes.

He has established, rebuilt, or sustained ombuds services at four universities and has worked confidentially with more than 1,000 faculty members, staff, students, managers, and senior leaders.

Mark has deep experience working in complex organizations where hierarchy, professional judgment, competing responsibilities, and strong institutional cultures can make conflict difficult to navigate. He brings mature judgment and a steady, practical approach to situations involving uncertainty, strained relationships, competing perspectives, and significant organizational stakes.

Approach

Mark begins with careful listening and thoughtful questioning. He helps visitors clarify concerns, consider different perspectives, prepare for difficult conversations, navigate complex organizational processes, evaluate informal and formal options, and decide for themselves how they want to move forward.

His practice draws on conflict coaching, negotiation, mediation, facilitation, and extensive experience working with senior leaders and professionals in high-stakes environments.

Mark works comfortably across multiple organizational levels, professional cultures, and differing perspectives, including situations involving incomplete facts and high-stakes consequences. Throughout his ombuds work, Mark upholds the independence, confidentiality, impartiality, and informality central to organizational ombuds practice.

Background

Before entering ombuds practice, Mark served for nearly 24 years as a judge advocate in the U.S. Air Force, retiring as a Colonel. His career included advising senior military and civilian leaders, leading large legal organizations, teaching negotiation, working extensively in international and cross-cultural environments, and supporting major crisis and contingency operations.

His experience included crisis-response work in Japan following the 2011 earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear emergency, and close liaison work with senior officials in the Republic of Korea during critical events. Those assignments reinforced an approach characterized by composure, cultural awareness, careful judgment, and the ability to work constructively amid uncertainty and competing institutional pressures.

Mark's professional service within the International Ombuds Association has included service on its Board of Directors, teaching foundational ombuds practice, mentoring newer practitioners, and contributing to professional discussions about organizational trust and ombuds standards.

He earned a B.A. in Journalism from Marietta College, a J.D. from Duke University School of Law, and an LL.M. in International Dispute Resolution from Fordham University.