About Mark

Mark is from Lock Haven, PA. He graduated from Lock Haven High School and earned a bachelor's degree in Political Science from Niagara University in Lewiston, NY, in 2000. After living and working in New York City through the early 2000’s, Mark moved to California, where he trained as a carpenter and built Passive Solar custom homes with one of the nation’s premier green builders. A lifelong environmental justice advocate, Mark returned to South Central Pennsylvania in 2012, continuing to build homes and specializing in historic restoration, sustainability, and energy-efficiency, starting Temons and Co. Builders a year later. His commitment to sensible, responsible construction led to work in home accessibility, and in 2019, Mark began working full-time for a nonprofit organization, designing home improvement projects for accessibility and universal design, keeping folks from all over the commonwealth living in their homes through retirement or disability.  

Mark is an active community organizer and advocate for working Pennsylvanians from all backgrounds. He has fought to: 

• fund our public schools fairly 

• protect workers’ rights to collective bargaining 

• hold oil companies accountable to landowners in PA

• help people rejoin the workforce after leaving jail or prison

• keep private prison companies from doing business in our state

• improve the relationships between police departments and the communities they serve

• create legal protections for immigrants, our lgbtqia+ community, and folks with disabilities

• expand access to addiction treatment

• manage the backlogs in our court systems

• keep reproductive healthcare safe and legal in PA

• encourage investment of our tax dollars back into our homes and neighborhoods

Mark will tell you that he has wanted to be a State Senator since his 1989 6th grade class trip to Harrisburg. He began directing his organizing efforts into elections in 2018, training and recruiting volunteers to knock on doors for Southern York County’s Democratic Congressional candidate. He managed and served as Policy Director for the 2020 Congressional race in the same district. He has coordinated and volunteered with local races in Cumberland, York, and Lancaster Counties, and in 2022, he was a candidate for the PA State House of Representatives in the 98th State House district. 

During that campaign, Mark met Kristal Markle, the Democratic candidate from the 87th district, at a training at the Plumbers and Pipefitters building outside Harrisburg. They got married the next year and live in Mechanicsburg with their 4 children and standard poodle.

Mark now works as the Outreach Director for Bossy Girl Leadership, a leadership development and training firm founded and owned by Kristal Markle-Temons. He forms partnerships between Bossy Girl and local nonprofit organizations for programs promoting women’s empowerment, servant leadership, and community service. He also addresses PA farmers' policy concerns related to agricultural diversification, sustainability, and migrant worker compliance.