MCLEAN, VA, April 26, 2017 /24-7PressRelease/ -- Dr. Mark W. Cannon has been included in Marquis Who's Who. As in all Marquis Who's Who biographical volumes, individuals profiled are selected on the basis of current reference value. Factors such as position, noteworthy accomplishments, visibility, and prominence in a field are all taken into account during the selection process.
Dr. Cannon has provided innovative leadership in government, think tank, academic, investment and corporate settings with emphasis on imaginative goals and workable cost effective strategies and implementation.
Dr. Cannon has held high positions in each of the three branches of federal government. (1) While Staff Director of the Commission on the Bicentennial of the U.S. Constitution from 1985-88 (an Executive Branch "Level 1" position), his major responsibility was creating a dynamic organization of committed individuals that developed and encouraged national and local projects to achieve significant public understanding of, and appreciation for, the Constitution. This commemoration may have provided more education about its theme than any previous one.
A key project that Dr. Cannon initiated was the creation of a six-week unit on the Constitution's origins and effects through the Center For Civic Education. It has now been taught to 30+ million students thus producing a revolution in constitutional education in the schools for many students. For example, one typical class of these high school students tested higher than political science majors at a top university in both facts and conceptions of the Constitution.
An annual National Competition has been held each year since the program's first one in 1988 for all the classes that have won their state competitions. In 2011, Federal funding was terminated. However, since the States' commitment to the We The People Program was so strong, the Center For Civic Education continued it; and winning teachers and state coordinators agreed to find funding for the $25,000 to $50,000 it cost to bring their States' champion classes back to Washington D.C. for the National Competition. This and another related program has also been taught internationally.
The James Madison Memorial Foundation was created and endowed with $29 million from appropriations and a one-year surcharge on the sale of "Madison" coins. Without further appropriations, the Foundation has funded over 1,500 teachers for graduate degrees that include an extraordinary summer program at Georgetown University about the creation and adoption of the Constitution that helps undergird the future of freedom in America. The endowment has since grown to $55 million.
(2) Dr. Cannon has served as Administrative Assistant/Counsel to the Chief Justice of the United States from 1972-85. He was chosen from a field of over 700 for a new statutory position to assist the Chief Justice in planning, leadership, and administrative and liaison responsibilities outside the area of case decision making.
This enhanced Chief Justice Burger's formulation and implementation of programs that increased: arbitration and alternative dispute resolution; technology, procedural simplification, and increased productivity in courts; the number of prisoners working; and more practical/realistic training of law students. These innovations led to the Burger Era being described as the most fruitful in the history of modernizing the administration of justice.
One of Dr. Cannon's innovations while working with the Chief Justice was the creation of an annual gathering of key judges, judicial administrators, Senators, and House members for the purpose of seeking improvement in the administration of justice. It had been previously felt that judicial problems and needs had not been well understood by the other Branches of government.
Also, with the approval of the Chief Justice, Dr. Cannon created and administered the Supreme Court's Judicial Fellows Program for talented mid-career professionals as well as the Supreme Court's Intern Program for exceptional undergraduate students. Both programs assisted with research and other needs of the new office at the Supreme Court as well as the Federal Judicial Center and the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts.
(3) Dr. Cannon was the Chief of Staff for Congressman Henry Aldous Dixon from 1956-61 for whom he directed staff operations, policy research, and drafting of speeches. During this time, they helped terminate costly 90% price supports of major agricultural products and helped achieve authorization for the creation of the Colorado (River) Storage Project which increased economic vitality in several states with most costs repaid. Following this position, Dr. Cannon was a part-time Legislative Assistant to Senator Wallace F. Bennett from 1961-63 for whom he analyzed constituent needs and their resolution and carried out liaison work in Utah.
Dr. Cannon's international work with governments was primarily provided through the Institute of Public Administration, New York, the oldest center for the improvement of public management in the U.S. He was the Director of this historically significant private think tank from 1968-72 directing all foreign projects and working with the IPA President on institutional planning and administration, policy analysis and strategy, and project development and supervision.
In addition to international work, Dr. Cannon also directed some domestic projects. For example, leaders in metropolitan Atlanta sought to create a rapid rail transit system. However, in 1968, the voters of the three affected jurisdictions rejected this initiative with 55.5% of the vote. So, Dr. Cannon obtained funds and organized a research team who surveyed both sides, analyzed their responses and provided innovative suggestions (September 1969). This contributed to a revised plan with a more functional mix of bus routes and rail lines that served the entire community's needs better. It received a majority of votes in each of the three jurisdictions (1971) resulting in the creation of the MARTA system.
Prior to being IPA's Director, he was their Director of International Programs from 1965-68 where Dr. Cannon guided programs on executive development, graduate education, middle management training, and studies and consultation to improve planning, management and financial operations. In this position, he started with four foreign programs and added three more.
The IPA's government projects overseas were as diverse as: (1) helping Egypt create week-long executive conference programs with each focusing on a different major national problem and each group studying relevant materials in advance, discussing the issues and then writing up their recommendations for the Prime Minister, (2) helping develop and complete in Ibadan, Nigeria the first Institute awarding Masters Degrees in Public Administration in tropical Africa, (3) and helping Peru reorganize their national agencies as well as develop a major national training and development program.
Dr. Cannon was initially IPA's Director of their Venezuelan Urban Development Project from 1964-65. It was funded by the Ford Foundation pursuant to President John F. Kennedy's promise during his visit to Venezuela to help them with urban development and was described publically by Roy Crawley of the Ford Foundation as the most successful institution building project of the 300 that he had seen.
During 1961-64, Dr. Cannon was Chairman of Brigham Young University's Political Science Department (the second youngest Chairman in 21 Departments). His responsibilities included administration, lecturing, advising students and conducting research projects. During his leadership, the Department excelled in the number of students in the Honors Program and in the number of majors receiving graduate admissions and scholarships to prominent universities. He was also one of the top five finalists for the University's Professor of the Year Award.
Dr. Cannon is fluent in English and Spanish, has lived in five countries (United States, England, Mexico, Argentina, and Venezuela) and has lectured in more than 70 institutions in 18 countries including: Argentina, Brazil, Chile, China, Egypt, Germany, Japan, Jordan, Korea, Peru, Philippines, Russia, Taiwan, Uganda, United States, Uruguay and Venezuela.
More recently, Dr. Cannon has been an investor in, and/or advisor/consultant to, various emerging business ventures. His current emphasis is focusing on companies that can convert low cost feedstocks to low carbon, high value fuels profitably without requiring government subsidies. Other ventures have included: Arizona Clean Fuels which obtained the first new air permit to build a new American oil refinery in three decades; the production of energy-efficient insulated masonry; and the purchase of an office building and multi-family residential properties.
He was Executive Vice President of Cannon Industries (1989-96) which was created initially as a corporate subsidiary of Geneva Steel. It became the largest venture capital fund in Utah. They focused on investing in companies with cutting edge technologies. Dr. Cannon's successful investments in major undertakings included: Onyx, a pioneer in digitized large format graphics and Unibase, a startup that became the largest data entry company in the U.S. They also persuaded several steel using companies to locate their operations at Geneva Steel.
Dr. Cannon was also one of the founding owners of Geneva Steel and a Vice Chairman of its Board of Directors (1988-89). He helped plan for the acquisition of this steel mill which, in its first year of operation, became a profitable $500 million per year exporting company while also helping to restore the environment.
The youngest of seven children, Dr. Cannon grew up in the depths of the Great Depression where, as a child and teenager, he found ways to earn most of his out-of-house expenses by working at varied jobs over the years such as a political reporter for the Deseret News, being a hotel page and bell hop at a major hotel that attracted international guests, breeding and selling thoroughbred Cocker Spaniels, and delivering newspapers. He later completed all of his PhD classes, language exams and general exams debt free and subsequently completed his PhD dissertation debt free.
Dr. Cannon received three graduate degrees from Harvard University: his PhD was in Political Economy and Government (1961), his MPA was in Public Administration (1955) and his MA was in Political Economy and Government (1954). While at Harvard, he served as a Freshman Advisor, a faculty position, and as a Resident Proctor. He also graduated from the University of Utah with a BA in 1949 with a major in Political Science and a minor in Economics after receiving a highly competitive full scholarship at age 15 to the avant-guard Deep Springs College located in the California desert (1944-46).
He feels very grateful for the preparation that these diverse educational experiences provided for him as well as the skilled and loving mentoring of his father, Joseph J. Cannon, who spoke seven languages, was known for his creativity, writing skills and breadth of knowledge but passed away when MWC was just 17 years old and his mother, Ramona W. Cannon, who studied in Paris and Berlin and was one of the first ten women in Utah to have received a master's degree (1913). She taught five languages plus history in high schools and also taught English at the University of Utah. She published over 3,000 articles after the age of 60 and received numerous honors and awards. Both parents encouraged personal integrity, creative yet practical problem solving, and a joyful inquisitive life style with the prevailing theme that all are the custodian/stewards of their own life's choices and should choose to excel and use their life to be helpful to other people and society in general.
Dr. Cannon loves and enjoys interacting with each of his three children, their spouses, and his seven grandchildren. He also deeply loves and appreciates his wife, Betty. His former wife, Ruth, is deceased. Their examples have taught him uniquely treasured lessons especially in regard to savoring the precious experiences and opportunities that one has in life.
Dr. Cannon's other significant mentors included: Chief Justice Warren E. Burger of the U.S. Supreme Court for his vast creativity, bold initiatives, dedication to the consumers of "justice" and personal integrity; Lyle C. Fitch, IPA President, for the meticulousness of his analysis; Luther H. Gulick, IPA Chairman, for his insightful understanding of highly effective public administration; Congressman Henry Aldous Dixon for showing how much can be accomplished through graciousness, loyalty, and having a broad network of honorable friends and professional associates; President Ernest L. Wilkinson of BYU for his enormously productive energy and determination to build a highly acclaimed campus and professorate; and Dean Edward S. Mason of Harvard's Littauer School (precursor to Harvard's Kennedy School) and Dean Simon Whitney of Deep Springs College who both could clearly and brilliantly articulate complex economics.
Dr. Cannon has published over 90 items that have largely dealt with innovative planning, managerial leadership, and voluntary service in public and private sectors. Amongst his books and special issues are: Guest Editor, "Toward the Bicentennial of the Constitution", Special Issue Phi Kappa Phi National Forum, Fall 1984, secured articles by President Ronald Reagan, Speaker Tip O'Neill, and other top officials and scholars, circulated to 553,500 lawyers, teachers, journalists, foreign officials, scholars and members of Phi Kappa Phi; co-authored with R. Joseph Monsen, The Makers of Public Policy: American Power Groups and Their Ideologies, McGraw Hill, 1965, five printings, bestselling book on interest groups and public policy, widely adopted in political science, economics and business courses; co-authored with R. Scott Fosler and Robert E. Witherspoon, Urban Government for Valencia (Venezuela), Praeger, 1973; "Latin American Public Service Improvement Through Interactive Training Techniques", in Clarence E. Thurber and Lawrence S. Graham eds, Development Administration in Latin America, Duke University Press, 1973; and co-authored with Garth Jones, State and Local Government in Utah, Utah Foundation, 1954.
His published articles include: "The Constitution: the Real Thousand Points of Light", Phi Kappa Phi Journal, Spring 1990 and The Scottish Rite Journal, April 1990; "A Tribute to Chief Justice Warren E. Burger", Harvard Law Review, March 1987; "Judicial Administration to the 21st Century", Public Administration Review, Fall 1985; "Stemming the Litigation Tide: An Interview", The Executive Letter Special Report, Insurance Information Institute, July 8 1985; "Why Celebrate the Bicentennial of the Constitution?", Phi Kappa Phi National Forum, Fall 1984 and other publications such as National Association of Secondary School Principals Bulletin, September 1985; "The Spawning Ground for Better Federal Courts", American Bar Association Journal, November 1983; "Correcting Our Corrections System, Alternative Sentencing and Prison Industry Programs", Vital Speeches of the Day, October 1, 1982 and in The Journal of Correctional Education, March 1983; "Crime and the Decline of Values", republished or excerpted in 20 national publications, 1981-1982; "Inter-branch Cooperation in Improving the Administration of Justice: A Major Innovation", co-authored with Warren I. Cikins, Washington and Lee Law Review, Winter 1981; "Can the Federal Judiciary Be an Innovative System?", Public Administration Review, January/February 1973; "Judicial Administration, Why Should We Care?", Arizona State Law Journal, Volume 1974; "El Impacto de Administracion Municipal en el Desarollo Economico y Social de Venezuela", FUNDACOMUN, Caracas, 1965; and "The American Federal Bureaucracy as a Political Power Group", Philippine Journal of Public Administration, April 1965.
Amongst Dr. Cannon's most noteworthy speeches are: "Chief Justice Warren E. Burger", Memorial Service, U.S. Supreme Court, April 30 1996; "The Role of an Independent Judiciary in Undergirding Constitutional Democracy", to members of Parliament and the Judiciary, Amman, Jordan, November 1995; "The Role of Value-Conveying Institutions in Undergirding or Undermining Constitutional Democracy", German-American Conference on the Development of Civic Competence and Responsibility Among Youth, Irsee, West Germany, April 1985; "The U.S. Constitution: Foundation for Effective Government, Freedom and Creativity", delivered at the East China Institute for Politics and Law, Shanghai, China, September 7 1981 and published as "Freedom and Creativity", American Educator, Spring 1982; Keynote Address, "Aspectos Administrativos de la Justicia de los Estados Unidos", Second Conference on Judicial Reform, Argentina, 1978; "Key Features of American Constitutional and Political Systems", Moscow, Soviet Union, September 1977; and "Methods of Motivating Public Bureaucracies" (to senior civil servants), Uganda, 1971. According to several Brookings Institution executives, Dr. Cannon had by the early 1980's spoken to more of their audiences than any other speaker, having surpassed Gerald R. Ford.
Dr. Cannon has done extensive volunteer service, mentoring and teaching. Examples of his service were: Board of Directors, Institute of Public Administration, 1987-2004; Chairman, National Advisory Council, Marriott School of Management, Brigham Young University, (included presidents of major corporations such as Marriott/General Mills/Black and Decker/Eastman Kodak/etc), 1984-86, Vice Chairman 1982-84, Member 1976-89; Co-Author/Committee, "Bill of Responsibilities", Freedoms Foundation at Valley Forge, 1985; Member, Commission on Public Understanding About the Law, American Bar Association, 1982-86; Harvard Overseers' Committee to visit Harvard Law School, 1979-85; Keynote Speaker, Argentina's 2nd National Conference on Judicial Reform, 1978; Chairman, committee for the selection of the most outstanding dissertation in public administration, American Political Science Association, 1977; Chairman, Committee on Court Administrations, American Bar Association, 1976-78; Member, Stockberger Award Committee to select the Outstanding International Personnel Administrator of the Year, 1976; Member, Inter-American Advisory Council, United States Department of State, 1972-74; Secretary, International Studies Association, 1962-63; Treasurer, Harvard-Radcliff Graduate Student Council, 1953-54; Chairman, Littauer Graduate School of Public Administration Student Association, Harvard University, 1954; Missionary, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, Argentina, 1949-52 (Peron Era); President, Student Body, University of Utah, 1948-49, one of the first to advocate transfer of much of the land from Fort Douglas to the University of Utah (which, once completed, enormously increased the campus size) and launched an "SOS" (Save Our Symphony) campaign that helped the Utah Orchestra survive; and Editor, Editorial Page, Daily Chronicle, University of Utah, 1947-48.
Dr. Cannon has received numerous honors including: the creation of the Mark W. Cannon Endowed Scholarship, Romney Institute, Marriott School of Management, Brigham Young University, June 2014, that was funded by one of the young Supreme Court Fellows who appreciated Dr. Cannon's mentoring decades earlier; Member, National Academy of Public Administration, 1973-Present; Member, Phi Kappa Phi (Honor Society), 1949-Present; Guest Scholar, Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, 1989; Judicial Associate (1st Non Lawyer Member), American Bar Association, 1982-83; Honorary Doctor of Law Degree, Morris Brown College, May 1980; Honorary Doctor of Law Degree, Nova University, August 1979; One of 14 students invited to the investiture of incoming Harvard University's President Nathan M. Pusey, 1953; and Member, Beehive Society (a select honor society of outstanding graduating seniors in leadership, scholarship and service), University of Utah, 1949.
Among the awards Dr. Cannon has received are: NESA Outstanding Eagle Scout Award, National Capital Area Council, Boy Scouts of America, March 2015; Distinguished Service Award, Supreme Court Fellows Alumni Association, January 2004; (Porcelain) American Eagle Award, Invest-in-America National Council, May 1988; Award for Exceptional Public Service, Council for the Advancement of Citizenship, May 1988; Gold Good Citizenship Medal, National Society of the Sons of the American Revolution, June 1986; (Annual) Pi Sigma Alpha Award (for Outstanding Political Scientist), National Capital Political Science Association, 1986; 1st Annual Distinguished Public Service Award, BYU Management Society-Washington DC Chapter, February 1986; Community Service Award, BYU Alumni Association, Brigham Young University, 1982; (Annual) Abraham Smoot Award for Public Service, Brigham Young University, December 1981; Honor Certificate, Freedoms Foundation at Valley Forge, 1981; Dean's Award, School of Law, University of Alabama, May 1978; (MWC's dissertation won) The Annual Award (for best work of scholarship relating to a problem of government in the Western states), Western Political Science Association, March 1963; First-Third Places, Collegiate Debate Tournaments, 1947-48; Letterman, Swimming, University of Utah, 1948; Eagle Scout, Boy Scouts of America, 1943; and First Honors (for Utah), Inter-American Student Forum, Pan-American Union, July 1942.
Dr. Cannon's evolving biography has been published in over 50 volumes of Marquis Who's Who: in the World, in America (annually since before 1990), in American Education, in Government, in American Politics, in the East, in the South, in the Southwest, in the South and Southwest, and the West beginning in 1964 until present.
About Marquis Who's Who :
Since 1899, when A. N. Marquis printed the First Edition of Who's Who in America , Marquis Who's Who has chronicled the lives of the most accomplished individuals and innovators from every significant field of endeavor, including politics, business, medicine, law, education, art, religion and entertainment. Today, Who's Who in America remains an essential biographical source for thousands of researchers, journalists, librarians and executive search firms around the world. Marquis now publishes many Who's Who titles, including Who's Who in America , Who's Who in the World , Who's Who in American Law , Who's Who in Medicine and Healthcare , Who's Who in Science and Engineering , and Who's Who in Asia . Marquis publications may be visited at the official Marquis Who's Who website at www.marquiswhoswho.com.
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