APL has a way of establishing an excellent sense of community and belonging. Team driven culture, everyone is in this together.”
There’s something that keeps people here
After more than a decade working in academia, Assistant Director of Business and Finance Mark Perez found a home at the APL-UW.
Mark graduated from the University of California-Merced in 2009. He earned his B.S. in economics with aspirations of doing private sector work. With the economic downturn between 2007 and 2009, Mark had slim pickings in the job market. He switched directions and started a career in higher education, where he enjoyed working in academia.
Mark spent eight years at UC-Merced, his alma mater, as an administrative assistant and research administrator. He also worked in UC-Central, where he ensured finance rates matched up behind the research.
In 2019, Mark came on board at the APL-UW as the Assistant Director of Business and Finance, where he oversees the overall APL’s finances. He points out the uniqueness of the financial mission of the APL versus the private sector. As opposed to the private sector’s mission of profitability, his mission in Business and Finance is to “help Principal Investigators solve their problems, take out roadblocks, and enable them to advance their research endeavors.”
In his time with APL, Mark has noticed that people tend to stay here. Researchers, administrators, engineers – people of all lanes are connected to each other and the lab.
Mark Perez
Major
B.S. Economics
How I came to APL-UW
After working in various positions in higher education in California, I realized that I enjoyed working with Principal Investigators and researchers. In 2019, I found the opportunity to come to the APL-UW and was hired.
Standout moment (so far)
When I first came on board, APL had a complex method of accounting for internal operations. I figured out how the finances worked, found ways of presenting them in different formats, and standardized financial processes. It was a period of change, growth, and teamwork.