Meet Mark Shepard

Mark Shepard grew up on his family’s multigenerational farm, “Shep’s Berry Patch” in Hartland, Vermont. “It’s where I learned to work and work hard. It’s also where I learned to appreciate the traditions, values and the people who make the Vermont way of life what it is.”

Today, Mark and his wife Rebecca are raising another generation of Vermonters, four young boys, in Bennington where Mark runs a successful small business.

In addition to his family and business duties, Mark has served his community as a twice-elected State Senator, where he has become a respected champion for good jobs, lower taxes, and limited government.

“I started my career out of high school as a blue collar apprentice electrician, earning my journeyman electrician’s license. I know from personal experience how difficult high taxes and an overreaching government bureaucracy make it for working, middle class Vermonters to get by.

“Having put myself through both undergraduate and graduate electrical engineering programs, I know how hard it is to work for a college education, but also how important that education is.

“And as a dad, I know the challenges that young families face as they try to settle down and make a living and a life in Vermont.

“Over the past fifteen years or so, Vermonters have gotten higher taxes and a bigger more controlling government – and the result has been a harder and harder life for working people.

“Now our young people and middle class families are leaving in record numbers to escape our State. This is wrong, and this is what I want to change.

“I look forward to putting my experiences as a sixth generation Vermonter, as a small business owner, and as a parent of young children to work for the people and families of Vermont in the U.S. House of Representatives.”

Mark's Background

Personal:

Born September 12, 1960 in Windsor, Vermont
Raised on multi-generation family farm in Hartland, VT
Two sisters and three brothers
Married Rebecca Shepard on August 18, 1990
Raising four children

Professional:

1974 – Graduated from Hartland Elementary School, Hartland, Vermont
1978 – Graduated from Hartford High School, Hartford, Vermont
1978-1982 – Worked and studied under the Vermont Electrical Apprenticeship Program
1982 – Earned Journeyman Electrician's License
1986 – Awarded Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering with High Honors, University of Florida; Gainesville, FL
1987-1991 – Graduate Electrical Engineering studies and employed as a research specialist in semiconductor research at Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Cambridge, MA
1994 – Awarded Master of Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Automation & Robotics; Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY
1993-Present – Owner and operator of an industrial control and test systems engineering business
2003-2006 – Vermont State Senator

Community:

• Volunteer youth worker in Windsor and Bennington, VT, 8 years
• Big brother program in the Boston, MA area, 2 years
• Bennington Area Habitat for Humanity, 3 years, Founding Board Member
• North Pownal Congregational Church
• Bennington Microtechnology Center, Sen. Shepard initiated the connection in 2002.
• Vermont State Senator

"... many politicians talk the talk about doing something tangible about new jobs and it doesn't go much further. Sen. Shepard walked the walk."
"Sen. Shepard's big accomplishment, and it is a significant one, lies in the major role he played in bringing the Bennington Microtech Center into being."

Bennington Banner State Senator Endorsement Editorial, October 29, 2004

Copyright © 2006, Shepard for Congress Committee. All rights reserved.