Mark Andrew Zwartynski
Mark Andrew Zwartynski (born June 16, 1952) is an American published author and internationally released singer/songwriter, recording artist, guitarist and vocalist. He is also a public relations and business development specialist as well as a veteran sports and entertainment business executive. He is best known for his book "Two On The Aisle, How to Get Tickets to Any Event, Anytime, Anywhere," a collaboration with Dale Ratermann published by Masters Press [1] and his 2015 CD release "Alright!" by the Markie Z Band on '44 Uprising Records, [2] as well as his work with the Indiana Pacers and the Dallas Mavericks of the National Basketball Association. Nicknamed "Markie Z," Zwartynski is widely known for his methods and strategies on business development and strategic planning for major league professional sports organizations and marketing them to profitability. He has also produced many sports and entertainment live and broadcast events. Artistically as a guitarist/singer/songwriter, his brand of current affair lyrics, Americana and European lifestyles, occasional political sentiments are centered on his upbringing by immigrant parents in New Jersey. Zwartynski's live performances and recordings as an artist are of the rock music genre combining a mixture of rhythm and blues, funk and jazz influences. He is known in the sports industry for forging the use of technology in the sales and marketing automating the first mobile process to increase revenue streams. He authored an article "Computerized Information Systems and their Role in the Sales Process" [3]. Other accomplishments include deploying the first ticket scanning system with Ticketmaster at Reunion Arena in Dallas, Texas [4] and the first email newsletter [5] to fans, clients and customers of the Dallas Mavericks while serving as Senior Vice President of Tickets Sales, Technology and Administration. Zwartynski formed an independent record label, '44 Uprising Records named to honor his father's participation in the Warsaw Uprising of 1944. The album titled "Alright" by the Markie Z Band was released in January 2015. Zwartynski is currently the Chairman of The Mark Andrew Group of Companies including the Markie Z Band.
Early Life
Zwartynski was born June 16, 1952, at Perth Amboy General Hospital in Perth Amboy, New Jersey. He spent his childhood five years in Perth Amboy, five years in Trenton where his mother enrolled him into the Trenton Conservatory of Music to study piano and twelve years in Edison, New Jersey. He lived on Grandview Avenue and attended St. Joseph's High School in Metuchen. His father, Andrew Zbigniew Zwartynski, was of Polish ancestry and worked as an insurance and estate planning executive. His mother was a housewife and later a cleric at the Douglas College Alumni Office and was of Polish ancestry. His mother and father met in London, UK after WWII at Balham and Tooting College. His maternal grandfather, Teofil Morelowski was awarded the highest Polish military medal of honor Virtuti Militari under the command of General Josef Pilsudski who formed the famed Rifle Corps eventually helping the re-establishment of Poland as a sovereign nation.[6] His paternal grandfather was the last commander to surrender to the Nazi invasion in 1939 while commanding the the defense of the Battle of Hel in the Hel Peninsula in northwest Poland. He has one younger sister, Alexandra Ann. Alexandra had a son by Peter Rush, Andrew, named after his maternal grandfather.
Raised a Roman Catholic, Zwartynski attended the St. Francis Catholic School in Metuchen, NJ where he was educated by the Brothers of the Sacred Heart and mentored by Brother Austin Kazalski. [7} He continued on to St. Joseph's High School in Metuchen continuing his education under the tutelage of the Brothers of the Sacred Heart participating in soccer for his first two years and then joining the Ski Club, forming the Surfing Club with Andrew Zmidzinski and received a Varsity Letter for Acting. Zwartynski explains that it was his Catholic upbringing that formed his faith and viewpoints on life and the community in his business, music and written work. Upon graduating from St. Joseph's High School in 1970, he was accepted at St. Joseph's College in Rensselaer, Indiana under the tutelage of the order of Catholic priests of the Society of the Precious Blood.[13] Zwartynski entered the Pre-Law program under the mentorship of Father Donald Shea and graduated in 1974 with a degree in Political Science. Zwartynski participated in soccer, debate, basketball intramurals, as a driver for two years in the Little 500 go cart challenge his junior and senior year, ran for Vice President of Student Council losing by seven votes to Gary Lupa, also class of '74. During his freshman and sophomore years he worked on his musical skills as solo acoustic guitar artist performing around campus and the vicinity of the college finally forming the Southern Cross Band.
Career
Upon graduating from college Zwartynski (Markie Z) continued traveling and performing with the Southern Cross Band throughout the Mid-West often opening for many notable acts at the time for the following five years within which he managed a record store in West Lafayette, Indiana. In 1980 he moved to Lexington, KY where he was employed by the Barney Miller Electronics Store as the Director of Advertising and Sales. [8] In 1981 Zwartynski went to work as a Marketing Associate for Morton B. Katz and Associates, headquartered in Toronto, Ontario, promoting ticket sales for the Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, the Virginia Museum Theater in Richmond, VA, Olympia Dukakis' Whole Theater Company in Montclair, NJ, the Indianapolis Repertory Theater and the NBA Indiana Pacers in Indianapolis, IN.
Zwartynski took a hiatus from Katz and spent the winter of 1982 in DBRS Recording Studios in West Lafayette, Indiana recording a self-titled "Markie Z and Friends" unreleased solo album and engineering and producing other artists for their demos and rehearsals. One artist of particular note that Zwartynski co-engineered with Dan Bir was singer/songwriter Carrie Newcomer who recorded a demo with. In 1982, Zwartynski was offered the position of Director of Ticket Sales by Ray Compton and Acting General Manager Bob Salyers. Zwartynski went on to stay with the Indiana Pacers and growing into the role of Director of Marketing, Ticket Sales and Game Operations. While at the Indiana Pacers Zwartynski took the attendance from 1,290 people per game approximately to two consecutive sold out seasons in one of the toughest, due to its population, markets in the NBA. He oversaw the transition from “hard tickets” to the automated ticket system and created the first automated sales staff in professional sports with his staff incorporating video, early cell phones and laptop computers. Zwartynski penned the article "Automation and its Role in the Sales Process" published by Sport Marketing Quarterly. [9]
In 1995, Zwartynski then accepted the position of Senior Vice President of Business Operations for the Milwaukee Admirals of the International Hockey League owned by longtime Chicago Blackhawk play by play announcer Lloyd Pettit who coined the term "shot and a goal!" Throughout the year while his family was still living in Indianapolis Zwartynski spent the lone hours away from his family focused on writing his book with Dale Ratermann, "Two on the Aisle: How to Get Tickets to Any Event, Anytime, Anywhere" published by Masters Press, a Division of Howard W. Sams Company a Bell Atlantic Company[10] During this time the Zwartynski daughters Andrea and Sarah began showing prowess among the junior golf players in their age brackets. With that in mind, Zwartynski partnered with Dr. John Rooney recently the retired author/researcher/geographer from Oklahoma State University who created and Chaired the Geography Department. Dr. Rooney offered a partnership position to Zwartynski and they went on to develop Traditions Golf Club in Edmond, OK. Zwartynski's daughters went on to receive numerous scholarship offers from Division I universities across the nation with Andrea the oldest landing at the University of San Francisco for her first two years and finishing at Houston Baptist University where she won the Division I Centenary University Invitational. Sarah, the youngest went on to Texas A&M winning the Betsy Rawls Classic hosted by the University of Texas and continuing on to be the 2010 Texas State Women's Amateur Champion.[11]
In 1997, Zwartynski received a phone call from Paula Hanson the highest ranking female in the NBA inquiring if there would be any interest in interviewing for a position with the Dallas Mavericks of the NBA under the leadership of President Terdema Ussery III and Majority Owner, Ross Perot, Jr. Zwartynski flew from Oklahoma City, OK to Dallas, Texas and interviewed with Mr. Ussery. A few months later Mr. Ussery called Zwartynski to come down to Dallas again to discuss an employment agreement. Zwartynski returned to Dallas and ended up accepting the position of Vice President of Ticket Sales, Technology and Technology with the responsibility of acting as the liaison between the the Mavericks and the Dallas Stars as well as the point person representing the Mavericks on the coordination of the construction of the new arena between the Dallas Stars and the newly formed Arena Operating Company. During a meeting with all parties involved Zwartynski vigorously defended his valuation of what the Naming Rights fee for the new arena should be averting a near disastrous sale to a prominent international company for a mere $4 million dollars a year over a twenty year term and finally ending with the Zwartynski valuation of $6 million dollars a year for thirty years with American Airlines. [12] Other achievements while at the Mavericks were the first Ticketmaster introduction of scanning tickets with bar codes and the first email message delivery system to season ticket holders. Upon Zwartynski’s recommendation the NBA adopted the program league wide while later after the conclusion of the agreement commencing the deployment of a proprietary system.
Zwartynski was instrumental in introducing and arranging the meeting between Internet pioneer Mark Cuban and Ross Perot, Jr. eventually ending with the sale of majority ownership of the Dallas Mavericks to Mr. Cuban.
Mark continued on with the Mavericks through the completion of the sale of the team to Cuban and then leaving in 2000 to start the sports division of the dot com firm Vectrix in Dallas, TX. A big part of the decision was to free up time that he could devote to his daughters and their quest for elite golf competition which would be prohibited given the lifestyle job work ethic needed while associated with an NBA franchise. Zwartynski quickly found out after flying to California to meet with officials from Ticketmaster and long time Perot Associate, Jack Benton of Jack Benton and Associates to secure a large transaction processing agreement that Vectrix could not deploy the representations made to Zwartynski luring him from the Mavericks. Zwartynski resigned from Vectrix in 2001 and opened his own public relations, business development and marketing/advertising firm.
Zwartynski continued to operate his business and eventually seeing his daughters through their completion of college. In 2010, Mark took on the position of Assistant General Manager of the Allen Event Center in Allen, TX. he continued on as Associate General Manager until late 2012. With his daughters on their professional paths, Zwartynski decided to focus on his music, songwriting, blogging and recording. While in the studio, he quickly realized the fantastic chemistry of the musicians he had assembled and decided to formally create the Markie Z Band and proceed to writing, recording and performing
Personal Life
In 1979, Zwartynski met Maritta Wagner of Muncie, Indiana while she was attending Purdue University and he was playing in Markie Z and Sky Jammer and managing Slatewood Records in the record store in West lafayette, IN. They dated for five years and then married on November 3, 1984. They purchased a home in Zionsville, Indiana. They planned their marraige to not have children for the first two years while Zwartynski worked for the Indiana Pacers and Maritta stayed at home but became very involved in Aerobics subsequently becoming an instructor. Maritta was raised by two immigrant parents in Muncie, IN who came to the United States the same year Zwartynski's parents arrived, 1952. The fact that both had grown up bi-lingual and with parents from a European culture, Zwartynski's parents being Polish and Maritta's parents being German created kindred attraction between the two. Zwartynski was often quoted as saying that was his part in reconciling the WWII differences between the two ethnicities. Maritta was raised in the Lutheran faith and agreed to convert to Roman Catholicism so that their future children would be raised in on faith.
On October 15, 1986, Andrea Maritta was born to Mark and Maritta at St. Vincent's Hospital in Indianapolis, Indiana. She was named after her paternal grandfather Andrew. On January 29, 1989, Sarah Christin was born to Mark and Maritta at St. Vincent's Hospital in Indianapolis, IN. Mark and Maritta agreed to not pursue having any more children after Sarah.
Today, Maritta Wagner Zwartynski works as the Associate Liturgy Director of Prince of Peace Catholic Community in Plano, Texas. On November 4, 2014, Mark and Maritta celebrated their 30th anniversary.
References
- Published by Masters Press a Div. of Howard W. Sams & Co., a Bell Atlantic Company 1996 - ISBN: 1-57028-074-6 1. Ticket Brokerage: Zwartynski, Mark Andrew, 1952-
- [6] Recorded, Published and Released by '44 Uprising Records and Productions Jan. 2015, Songwriter Registration ASCAP 2014 Account 2014-10-02 , International Distribution RouteNote Release UPC Code :5054316983996
- "Computerization and its Role in the Sales Process" Published by Sport Marketing Quarterly: http://connection.ebscohost.com/c/articles/16602378/computerized-information-systems-their-role-sales-process
- "Computerization and its Role in the Sales Process" Published by Sport Marketing Quarterly: http://connection.ebscohost.com/c/articles/16602378/computerized-information-systems-their-role-sales-process
- http://feefhs.org/links/Poland/vm/vm-m2.html
- http://www.stfranciscathedralschool.org/information.html
- http://barneymillers.com/about/
- "Computerization and its Role in the Sales Process" Published by Sport Marketing Quarterly: http://connection.ebscohost.com/c/articles/16602378/computerized-information-systems-their-role-sales-process
- Published by Masters Press a Div. of Howard W. Sams & Co., a Bell Atlantic Company 1996 - ISBN: 1-57028-074-6 1. Ticket Brokerage: Zwartynski, Mark Andrew, 1952-
- http://www.txga.org/wtga-state-amateur-champions-and-results.html
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Airlines_Center
Markandrewz (talk) 04:54, 11 May 2015 (UTC)markandrewzMarkandrewz (talk) 04:54, 11 May 2015 (UTC)