THE RDPO TEAM

The RDPO is stationed at the Portland Bureau of Emergency Management. The team of seven includes a Managing Director, a Regional Disaster Messaging Analyst, a Senior Planning Coordinator, a Regional Program Coordinator, a Grants Coordinator, a Procurement Analyst, and a Program Specialist. You can reach the team at rdpo@portlandoregon.gov.

MARK FERDIG

MANAGING DIRECTOR

mark.ferdig@portlandoregon.gov

Mark joined the RDPO in February 2023. He has over 27 years of domestic and international non-profit experience. He has a strong collaborative executive leadership background with an extensive history of managing strategic change and solving complex problems. He has thrived living and working in multicultural contexts around the world and has led initiatives that foster more diverse and inclusive work environments.

Mark previously spent 22 years in the international relief and development sector, primarily with Mercy Corps where he most recently founded the Program Performance and Quality department to establish standards and controls for quality program implementation. Prior to that, he led Mercy Corps’ global operations that provided centralized processes and systems for procurement, logistics, and administrative functions. He served for four years as the Senior Team Leader on the Strategic Response and Global Emergencies unit, working directly with field teams to strengthen program quality and accountability. Mark also led Mercy Corps’ Development Operations providing oversight to the financial systems for processing, tracking, and forecasting private revenue. In the years prior to that, Ferdig managed a diverse portfolio with direct program experience in East and West Africa; East, Southeast, and Central Asia, including leading teams in Indonesia, Ethiopia, and Eritrea.

Mark earned a Master of Environmental Studies degree from Evergreen State College and a BS in ecology and environmental management from South Dakota State University, with supplemental coursework in field ecology at the University of Montana Flathead Lake Biological Station. He began his career in The Gambia, West Africa in 1994 where, as a 23-year-old Peace Corps volunteer he supported agroforestry programs that provided specialized support to small shareholder farmers and garden cooperatives. Mark is a certified PRINCE2® Registered Practitioner and a PMDPro Project Management Professional.