Mark Perna

After hearing Mark Perna at another event, we were thrilled to bring him in to address our students, regional stakeholders, and all employees across our 3 campuses. His enthusiasm is contagious! Our students were riveted by Mark and gave him a huge standing ovation and off-the-charts feedback. Then at our Spring “Staculty” (staff + faculty) Inservice meeting, Perna delivered game-changing insights that got everyone not just ready, but excited for the new semester. The tagline at our open-admissions institution is “Life changing”; the work Perna is doing fits that perfectly.

AMAZING! In my seven years at KCKCC, I have never seen a speaker grab—and hold—everyone’s attention like Mark! Not only were faculty and staff energized and excited, they also left with real-world applications and resources to implement right away. Mark's narrative is incredibly transformational and a breath of fresh air for higher education, especially at the community college level. He was energizing, authentic, insightful, dynamic and relevant, and we can't wait to have him back for a follow-up event with area superintendents and high school leadership teams. Mark is a must-see speaker—you can’t afford NOT to bring him in!

Mark delivered amazing, virtual professional learning to our administrative team! Since that time, the team has been buzzing with energy and passion for our learners and their purposeful plans. Zoom can be tough, but the audience was riveted and participatory — the group chat was RICH with ideas and engagement, and the team has already begun to leverage their learning toward compelling outcomes. Mark leveled up the work we are doing at CCA in ways beyond our imagination. Many of our attendees said this was the best PD they had ever seen. Thank you, Mark!

After seeing Mark speak—and receive a thunderous standing ovation—at the National Association of Workforce Board (NAWB) conference, I knew I had to do whatever I could to bring him to Westchester to keynote at our local workforce board’s annual meeting. We made that happen and he did not disappoint! Our audience of educators, training providers, economic and workforce development professionals and employers were rapt at attention and did not even look at their phones! As the center of the spoke of the employment wheel, workforce boards and directors must hear what Mark has to say to better connect the dots between what job seekers want, what training is needed to get them to their desired goal and where employers are to complete the circle. The feedback from his presentation was off the charts and described as ‘life changing,’ ‘eye opening,’ and ‘not to be missed.’ All workforce boards and staff would benefit from hearing what Mark has to say in the way that only he can say it!

Mark Perna’s inspiring message has created a shockwave of change in our community! We now have powerful tools for younger and older generations to accept each other and work together for everyone’s future. Mark’s mastery of generational, education, and workforce issues makes him a must-see speaker for employers, educators, workforce development, parents, and the community. Mark is passionate, engaging, humble, authentic, transparent, and so relatable... Thank you for being so amazing!

Captivating. Thought-provoking. Alarming. Mark Perna delivers a powerful and disruptive message that challenges conventional thinking about education and the pathways young people take toward their futures. His thought-provoking insights create a healthy disequilibrium, pushing audiences to rethink how we prepare students to thrive in a rapidly evolving world. Mark’s message will inspire bold conversations and meaningful change and will leave his audience energized and eager for more, proving that Mark doesn’t just talk about a need for change—he equips communities to make it happen.

Mark Perna delivers the full package! He keynoted during our initial strategic planning process, which informed our critical decision-making, and then several months later inspired our administrators to completely buy into the power of our district vision. He then supersized the impact by addressing our full staff, both certificated and classified, about meeting the younger generations exactly where they are with a compelling narrative of relevance and purpose. The feedback has been very positive and people are excited about where we’re headed. Mark’s high-powered message aligns with everything our district is aspiring to achieve—and he’s equipped our team to do it!

Having Mark Perna speak to our students, parents, and community is invaluable. His cutting-edge insights align perfectly with the new educational systems we're embracing. It's crucial to get the word out about how the education game has changed and how we're preparing students for a rapidly evolving world. Mark’s message helps bridge the gap between traditional educational models and the innovative approaches we're taking to ensure students are college, career, and community ready. Mark is a visionary who can help inspire the mindset shift you want to see in your organization and community!

Mark Perna has had an extraordinary impact on our leadership! In his three-hour keynote, he riveted our county-wide superintendents and cabinet-level administrators with a hard-hitting message that is still reverberating. As the largest county school system in the country, we are working to help every student achieve a personal competitive advantage. Thanks to Mark, we’ve been inspired with a practical vision to make it happen. We highly recommend Mark for any organization seeking a common rally point everyone can get behind.

Over my 26 years as an administrator, I have found it challenging to bring in a motivational speaker who can connect with a diverse audience, from elementary teachers to high school teachers, custodians, and school cooks. Yet, Mark Perna accomplished just that. Typically, after these events, someone always asks, ‘Why did I need to sit through that?’ But this time, no one asked that question. I've never had a presenter who could engage with everyone in attendance the way Mark did. I would highly recommend Mark to any organization looking to create common ground and rally every individual on their team. He changed the game for us!

As Minnesota’s largest school district, we start our school year with a leadership workshop and then rally nearly 8,000 staff members around a common convocation message. Mark C. Perna’s high-energy, content-rich presentations set the foundation for future success at the individual, school and community level at the onset of the school year. Perna’s effective messaging integrated perfectly with our district statement that “It takes all of us” to have the best possible schools. His presentation provided concrete action steps to align individual staff members with a larger district vision, inspiring all of us to ensure students find relevance in their education and are well prepared for their next step in life upon graduation.

Mark Perna’s ability to connect with his audience and address the challenges we face in education today is amazing! Even with 750 people in attendance at our Educator/Business Leader Summit, he made it feel like he was speaking directly to you. Mark’s unique blend of humor, high energy, and relevant insights captivated the audience and sparked meaningful conversations between educators and business leaders. The feedback has been overwhelmingly positive, with many attendees noting how applicable this content was to their daily work. Mark’s message is one that needs to be heard by not only educators, but also by the students that they serve each day.

Are you trying to figure out how to connect with young people or why they are ‘just not hearing’ what you are saying? You need Mark Perna! Mark’s strategies on how to make conversations more productive and meaningful will make all the difference. His dynamic delivery and messaging keeps the audience on the edge of their seat—just waiting to hear more! Mark’s message is not just for parents, but also educators from preschool through graduate school and especially appropriate for business owners and managers of all sizes and industries. As an educator with over 25 years of experience as a teacher and administrator, it is without reservation, and with the highest regard that I recommend Mark Perna to any organization. The opportunity to hear Mark’s message is truly an advantage to anyone’s personal and professional experience.

Mark C. Perna thoroughly impressed me with his ability to captivate and connect with our staff and city leaders alike. In a keynote centered around intergenerational communication, relevant learning, and fostering student connections, Mark spoke meaningfully to everyone in the audience, from the Navy base captain to the chief of police, city council members, and the college president. The impact he made was palpable, motivating all of us to make a positive difference in the lives of our students and staff members. Thanks to Mark’s powerful address, this school year is off to an exceptional start. His passion and expertise have set the tone for success, and I wholeheartedly recommend him to any educational institution seeking transformative leadership.

Every Superintendent wants an energetic, thought-provoking, paradigm-shifting speaker to start the year. Mark Perna nailed it! I have never heard such positive feedback following our kickoff event. Mark’s inspiring message not only helped us understand the current generational challenges we face in education and employment, but also reached a personal level by providing more tools for us as parents. Mark shares ‘the why’ in a clear, relevant way, applicable to certificated and classed staff alike. We now feel empowered to make major changes in our educational system.

At our recent Education and Industry Summit, Mark C. Perna delivered a thrilling keynote that resonated deeply with both educators and industry leaders. His insights have sparked meaningful conversations about how we can empower the personal and professional growth of our younger generations. We’ve received truly outstanding feedback, with many attendees expressing interest in bringing Mark back for a larger-scale event. His expertise and engaging delivery make him an invaluable asset to our ongoing efforts in education and workforce development.

Mark Perna’s message on engaging and connecting with today’s students was truly inspiring. With practical and motivating insights, he gave us a fresh vision for partnering with local businesses to equip students for a successful future at all levels of education and employment. His focus on deeper collaboration between schools and the community will be immensely valuable as we prepare young people for real-world challenges. Mark's keynote was a game-changer, leaving us all energized and ready to make a difference. I highly recommend Mark!

Mark nailed it. The conversations post-Perna have been positive, excited and engaged about the next generation of workforce. Instead of pointing fingers in frustration, employers and educators in Ponca City have been coming up with ways to inspire and connect with future workforce. This is the start of a new way of working together in our community towards the common goal of economic growth—and it all came from 2 hours with Mark Perna. 100% unanimous feedback: fabulous message, presentation and action steps for future growth. Bravo!

Mark was enlightening, energizing, and relatable! His insights sparked numerous "AHA moments" for me and the broad cross-section of community leaders who joined us. Mark’s philosophy on engaging with young people—with equal parts of optimism, high expectations, and belief in their potential—has helped inform the actions we need to take as a community all pulling in the same direction. Many of the organizations in attendance already want to bring Mark back to keep supersizing everything we’re going to accomplish!

Mark’s presentation provided us with a fresh perspective on trends in education and how to better connect with students to develop a competitive advantage in a changing world. Every person that attended walked away with new tools and strategies to help all students in their career journey. This was an incredible, actionable experience!

Mark’s dynamic message was exactly what we were looking for to kick off our 86th annual convention! He not only conveyed valuable knowledge and expertise, but also inspired and engaged our members with his personal stories and experiences. His ability to connect with the audience on both a professional and relatable level was truly remarkable and will make a powerful impact as we move forward. Mark’s positivity is contagious and set the tone for our best convention experience ever!

Mark Perna delivered an incredible message that brought our education and employment systems together in a way I’ve never seen before. We all have a vital role to play in the economic viability of our community—and now, we feel equipped to play it. With Mark’s ongoing involvement, we’re already taking the next steps to transform the way our community thinks about education and careers. Thank you, Mark!

Mark Perna’s keynote was game changing for our community! In my work with businesses, employers, community leaders, and educators across Gage County, I constantly hear the same things: We need more skilled people, how can we educate and train the next generation, and what will keep our youth here? Mark's presentation hit all these nails on the head and gave the change-makers in our community the tools and motivation to take the next step toward achieving our goals. We are inspired!

Mark Perna unflinchingly delivered the powerful truths we needed to hear in this pivotal moment. It was a wake-up call for everyone in attendance—from educators and employers to economic developers and community leaders. Now it’s time to wake up our community to everything our youth can accomplish when we empower their journey. This is just the beginning of our ongoing paradigm shift!

We had the pleasure of welcoming Mark Perna as our keynote speaker at a county-wide, four-school district Professional Development workshop for teachers. The day prior Mark spoke at a parents’ night event and also to the entire staff at the local community college. Mark lit a fire of inspiration that we are taking full advantage of to catapult local student career exploration efforts. I have often referred to Mark as the “evangelist of education”—he is a dynamic, passionate, compelling speaker and trainer. Do not hesitate to book him—do it now! He will make you look brilliant.

Mark Perna brought not just dynamic presence, but also real substance to the pressing questions we are facing as a community college. Many staff stated that this was the best professional development we have ever had. With his vision of human connection and competitive advantage, Mark lit a fire among our campus community. This was the inspiration we needed to move forward in a fast-changing landscape!

Words can’t express the universal impact Mark Perna had on our entire community. He inspired literally everyone—from middle and high school students to our K-12 staff, community stakeholders, and state representative—to expand, and in some instances change, our thinking about education, careers, and what we can accomplish together. I’ve never witnessed such a collective mind shift. For the first time, every stakeholder is aligned on common ground and excited to move toward a stronger future!

MARK PERNA IS DYNAMITE! His message was transformative and impactful for our wide range of attendees, including CEOs, educators, nonprofit leaders, HR directors, and more who raved about Mark's presentation. He has helped us reach across boundaries and engage the entire community to truly start shifting our paradigm. Mark’s energy and progressive ideas are EXACTLY WHAT WE NEED to meet the challenges of modern economic development.

Mark Perna fired up our entire district, including classified staff, with a powerful message of human connection and generational insight. The feedback on his presentation has been 100% positive, with every staff member walking away inspired both personally and professionally. Mark delivers highly engaging professional development with actionable strategies that everyone can start implementing right away. We highly recommend Mark for any organization that needs to re-inspire all staff with a vision for real change!

Mark Perna brought our audience to their feet with his energetic, engaging, and inspiring message! His insights will help us move forward effectively in a changing world. Mark knows how to bring the heat and challenge every participant to forge a genuine human connection with the young people we serve. Our audience left with valuable tools they can start using immediately to improve their day-to-day interactions and outcomes, and the feedback has been amazing. Thanks, Mark!

Mark is by far one of the best speakers we have had in Beaumont, TX! He is an event planner's dream—he comes very prepared, and setup is a breeze. Mark’s message resonated with our educators, business professionals and community leaders. Our community is ready to connect the dots and put Mark’s wisdom into action!

Our diverse audience was deeply moved by Mark’s dynamic message! Superintendents, principals, counselors, employers, HR folks, economic development, state legislators, and community leaders were all inspired to rethink what we do with young people—and why. It was an extraordinary experience that has created the desire for an ongoing dialogue among all stakeholders. Mark brought our community together and ignited the spark we needed. We’re ready to focus, plan, and most importantly, take action!

Wow! Bringing Mark Perna in to speak to MCC faculty and administrators was one of the best decisions we ever made. His powerful keynote address during our fall opening week was, and continues to be, instrumental in helping the College sharpen its focus on enrollment, engagement, and retention. Mark is a dynamic and entertaining speaker, but more importantly, his presentation was one of real substance. He laid out specific, step-by-step strategies for getting students in the door, keeping them interested, and helping them cross the finish line. Our audience was so impressed that they gave Mark an enthusiastic standing ovation at the conclusion of his presentation. He truly made a lasting impact here! His message prompted everyone to get fired up about reaching students, and his experience-driven guidance has laid the foundation for us to stay on message as an organization.

For 2 fantastic hours, Mark Perna riveted our audience of business owners, corporations, community leaders, economic development, and educators. His message of truly connecting our pipelines was substantive, funny, and full of actionable strategies that people are still talking about. The keynote ended in an enthusiastic standing ovation, but the impact Mark made isn’t over. What an incredible experience!

Mark Perna is one of the best speakers our staff has ever heard. He inspired all of us to think about how to move away from what “has always been done” to transforming our teaching and learning for our current and future generations. Mark’s powerful message around unleashing students’ purpose, passion and performance will continue to drive our work in career pathways in the Owatonna Public Schools.

Before, during, and after our event, Mark and his team were amazing to work with! Most importantly, our CTE teachers and administrators from across the state of Tennessee were deeply impacted by Mark’s passionate message. In both his keynote and deep dive session, Mark spoke to the issues that they’re dealing with today, giving real tools to make a bigger difference. We couldn’t have chosen a better speaker for this pivotal moment!

When we brought Mark in to address our huge regional audience of business, industry, education and community leaders, we knew he would light up the room. But we didn’t realize just how actionable and inspiring his message would be. It was relevant, exciting, and empowering for everyone in attendance, and we’ve been flooded with positive feedback. In short, Mark’s dynamic vision couldn’t have come at a better time and we’re thrilled with the impact he has made here.

“High powered, fast paced, thought provoking discussion on workforce of today and future.”

This is by far the best session I have been privileged to attend. It was informative, engaging and enlightening. I can truly say you are the best keynote speaker I have seen.

The BEST experience I have had in a school meeting ever! And at the age of 73 (feeling like 23, thanks to you), I have seen a lot of presentations.

One of the most informative presentations that I have ever been involved with at the professional level. Mark gives a great perspective on how to understand the Millennial Generation.

Great tips on bridging the gap between my Baby Boomer managers and Millennial employees. This is one of the best and most engaging presentations I have heard in a very long time. I am very excited to get the presentation and utilize the knowledge.

Mark provides valuable information about engaging Millennials in a very energetic and captivating way, with great examples and stories.

Mark is a captivating and engaging speaker. His passion to help others be more successful is contagious. If you are not motivated to Be a Wade after this presentation, you are in the wrong business.

Mr. Perna was excellent in the delivery of his presentation. He was not only interesting but truly motivational. He incorporated educational components with finding a common ground to connect students to community and technical colleges.

Mark is a motivational, inspiring, dynamic ambassador for CTE and education as a whole.

Absolutely magnificent presentation — informative, fun, engaging! A strong call to action.

Outstanding presentation! Informative and funny, lots of great information for a Gen Xer working in the Millennial world.

One of the most engaging speakers I have ever heard…and I have heard many. Great choice!

Mark Perna was an absolute pleasure to work with as the keynote speaker for our company tuXperience Event. He tailored his presentation to fit our audience and was extremely energetic, engaging and entertaining while at the same time hitting our attendees with topics that hit the sweet spot for what they are experiencing with the workforce challenges of today. Our attendees could not say enough as to how much they enjoyed his presentation, as well as the ability to take back to their organizations so many of the thought-provoking topics and solutions he addressed!

Mark, you are amazing. Your energy and passion is contagious. I will go back to my school committed to use these new strategies to make a difference for our students.

This gentleman was great in his delivery. Information was relevant and real in reference to our students today. Great presentation!

Mark is an awesome motivator.

It has been a long time since I have been this engaged in an in-service. He was phenomenal!

Fabulous. I learned an amazing amount of information in a short period of time.

Engaging presentation of extremely useful knowledge!

Mark is engaging and knowledgeable. Very pertinent information. Valid, usable data!

Very few speakers have this kind of an impact! Mark is excellent and I would love to work with him on future projects.

Thank you so much. Provided such great ideas that I cannot wait to use.

I walked into the classroom thinking that I should be back at the office getting my work finished. When this presentation was ending, I became extremely disappointed that I couldn't have the entire day to sit and learn from Mark. Hands down 100% the best time and information I have received in my career. Thank you!

I absolutely loved the presentation. Mr. Perna was the best speaker/presenter I have ever seen. Please bring him back again.

He caught my attention from the moment I walked in. I wish I could replicate the entire presentation.

Not only does Mark provide useful and impactful tools, but he models and practices those tools and connects the dots. He answers the why.

Mark is always high energy and thought provoking.

I really wish my students were sitting next to me. Mark is so passionate, you can't help but be motivated. Best speaker I have been to in a long time.

This has been the best session I have attended. The information really touched home for me.

Best education speech ever! I'm fired up!

What an eye opening morning. This will forever change the way I look at my young staff. I didn't realize I had such an amazing army of world changers at my fingertips.

As a millennial I really related to this. I feel understood!

Insightful, energetic, challenging and spot on!

You know a speaker is great when he inspires you to race back to your office or classroom to start implementing what he said. Mark is that kind of speaker.

Dynamic and powerful! Inspiring educators like myself to change the way we can be game changers in our students' lives and get them where they need to be. Mahalo!

Good insight as a parent to move our children to the light at the end of the tunnel.

I could have listened for another hour. Too short! This presentation should be delivered to every school teacher in America.

Your insight, framing and context are amazingly aligned with what we need in education today!

Not only was this useful to me as an educator, but it will serve as a tool to help me work with my 17 year old who is stuck and perplexed about her future. I now have a clear path to help her with goal setting and future planning.

Best keynote speech I have heard in 30 years.

Mark Perna delivered an incredibly dynamic and impactful presentation to my staff — virtually. It felt like he was actually here and speaking directly to each person. My staff are inspired and reinvigorated by what they learned. His powerful message kept us engaged for more than two hours. He made a significant, positive impact here!

With just a few dynamic virtual sessions, Mark has made a significant impact by inspiring my staff during a stressful time. My entire group was engaged, motivated, and excited to get back to their students and implement fresh strategies to help them build their competitive advantage…and it's working!