Welcome Mark Newhouse, our new New Chief Operations Officer and Head of Product

We’re thrilled that Mark Newhouse has joined the sparks & honey team as Chief Operations Officer and Head of Product with the special task of accelerating our always-on products and practices.

Mark’s career has centered on growth strategy and innovation in consulting, corporate and founder roles. He joins sparks & honey from ?What If!/Accenture where he was part of the North American leadership team. Mark led top growth and organizational transformation priorities for industry leaders in financial services, healthcare, retail and consumer goods. His functional expertise includes business model design, product innovation and design, and organizational culture and change. Mark’s work experience has spanned everything from digital payments to data-driven health equity to the subscription economy. 

Mark will be responsible for evolving our operations and delivering our next generation of culturally-led products that enable sparks & honey’s next chapter of growth and market leadership. He will also be responsible for leading our Human Resources team and streamlining our learning organization philosophy that guides our team’s ongoing growth and betterment.

"Mark has a valuable track record of leading organizational growth at truly innovative companies. Much like the work we do for our clients — helping business leaders to see around corners and plan for disruption — he has an innate ability to anticipate challenges and opportunities, and then translate that into action plans that are both strategic and realistic,” said Terry Young, sparks & honey's founder and CEO. “His rich experience in tech-led consultative businesses will have a direct impact on our always-on products and processes.”

The newly created Chief Operations Officer and Head of Product role will call upon Mark’s unique set of interests and expertise to accelerate sparks & honey’s quest to disrupt the traditional consulting model. Blending AI-gathered big data with human intelligence empowers clients to act on cultural intelligence in more impactful ways.

Mark is also passionate about innovation through entrepreneurship, having co-founded the startup Nu-Kitchen that sold to Nutri-System, as well as being an investor and advisor to early stage ventures and their founders. Mark began his career in public service. He has served as an official in NYC government and is an active advocate for innovation in the civic and social sectors, particularly around new forms of public private partnerships. 

On the other side of the balanced work/life equation, Mark enjoys walking the parks and hiking the hills of Maplewood, New Jersey with his husband, daughter, son, and their loyal, leash-tugging hound Truman.