Learn about the 2020 Laureates: Mark D. Lerner
Author: JA of Greater Washington
Corporate Responsibility
Published:
Monday, 02 Nov 2020
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Image caption: Mark D. Lerner Principal, Lerner Enterprises Managing Principal Owner & Vice Chairman, Washington Nationals
JA: What was the hardest job you have ever done?
Mark: The period of time when we were constructing Nationals Park. It took working seven long days a week for 22 months on very little sleep for us to complete the project. But in the end, it was all worth it!
JA: Did you have a mentor or a role model over the course of your career?
Mark: My dad. He gave me everything—guidance, inspiration, motivation. He gave me the space to learn and make mistakes, and the comfort that I could always call on his knowledge and experience. More importantly, he gave me the responsibility and opportunity to prove myself as a businessman in my own right, not just the boss’s son. Because he knew then what I know now: that the hard road is always the more rewarding one.
JA: What is the one thing you want the Greater Washington business community to know about your company this year?
Mark: DC is truly my hometown, so I am extra sensitive to what the community needs. The philanthropic work that we do as part of Lerner Enterprises and the Washington Nationals is so important to me. For years, the Dream Foundation and Nationals Philanthropies have been focused on civic engagement and enhancing the work of our Youth Baseball Academy in Ward 8. Recently, our focus has been on how to help our community through this terrible pandemic. So we have partnered with World Central Kitchen and DC Central Kitchen to tackle the food insecurity problem in our city. We recently partnered with Monumental Sports on a voter registration drive and Nationals Park will serve as a super voting center this year.
JA: If you were to create a slogan or theme song for your life, what would it be?
Mark: “Do things first-class or not at all.”
JA: If you could choose one person, living or dead, to have dinner with, who would it be?
Mark: Golda Meir. I have always been fascinated with the years leading up to the birth of the State of Israel in 1948 and the early years after independence.
JA: Did you have a teacher or educator over the course of your schooling who had lasting impact on your life?
Mark: My paternal grandmother: Sarah Ethel Lerner. My maternal grandparents: Nathan ‘Bill’ Morris and Lillian Alper Morris. They taught me so much about life and my faith. Outside of my parents, they helped form the person that I am today.
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