Mark Howell Mixon was born May 24, 1954 at St. Vincents Hospital in Jacksonville, FL. The youngest of three boys, Mark attended Robert E. Lee High School, graduating in 1972. Mark attended Westminster Choir College in Princeton, NJ and The Florida State University in Tallahassee, FL, receiving both his Bachelor of Arts degree (1978) and Masters of Music (1981) in Music Theory. In 1983 Mark went to work at Merrill Lynch Pierce Fenner & Smith as a Financial Consultant, helping clients invest in stocks, bonds, CDs, real estate partnerships, and mutual funds. This experience helped Mark understand market forces such as supply and demand, short sales, interest rates, volatility, and return on investment, along with the legal aspects of buying and selling equities, real estate, and partnerships. After leaving Merrill Lynch, Mark held positions with companies such as Dominick & Dominick, Associated Land Title, AFC Title, Watson and Osborne, P.A., and Ford, Bowlus, and Jeter, P.A. Mark has worked in real estate-related fields for 32 years as a title agent, closing agent, real estate paralegal, legal assistant, closing coordinator, real estate agent, and property manager.