Our Team

Led by a highly skilled and accomplished group of individuals

Mission-Centered Solutions is served by a multidisciplinary team of strategists, consultants,  designers, operators, facilitators, business managers, and product-development professionals with deep experience in high-risk, high-consequence environments. Founded in 1996, MCS brings together deep expertise in human factors, incident management, leadership development, operational culture, and training for high-risk environments. The team’s strength is its ability to translate complex operational challenges into practical systems, training, and advisory support that improve leadership, decision-making, alignment, and learning under pressure.
With a record of thousands of program deliveries and tens of thousands of leaders trained across public safety, emergency response, and industrial sectors, MCS combines proven field credibility with disciplined program execution, allowing the company to serve clients from strategy through implementation.

Lark McDonald

Founder & CEO
Lark is responsible for the firm’s strategic positioning, which includes oversight of new service offerings and partnerships. In this role, he ensures the alignment of priorities for MCS’s Operations, Marketing, Business Operations, and Product Development groups. Before founding MCS in 1996, Lark worked as a lead instructional designer and program manager in the U.S. defense industry, building pilot and crew training for branches of the military. Lark’s technical background in training systems development and management has been instrumental in building the MCS leadership and command curriculum. Lark is a former flight instructor with expertise in Aviation Management and Human Factors Psychology.

Mark Smith

Founder & Vice President
Mark’s expertise centers on efforts to help clients align values, doctrine, and policy to achieve synergy in high-risk environments. Author of several publications, Mark works with MCS clients in their efforts to build and foster a strong operational culture. He serves as MCS’s lead consultant and oversees the consultation group. Recent work includes the MCS’s effort to implement new Strategic Risk Assessment and Strategic Operations processes within wildland fire incident management. Quantifiable measurements show that IMTs using these processes have increased efficiency and effectiveness in tactical and strategic decision-making on large fires.