Personal History
Mark graduated with a bachelor of arts in general business from Hendrix College in Conway, Arkansas. He and his wife Diana have a daughter, Allison, who is currently enrolled in the Fulbright Honors program at the University of Arkansas
Work History
Mayor Denman is Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of Riviana Foods, Specialty Brands Division. Riviana Foods is the No. 1 rice and No. 2 pasta company in the US with well-known rice brands such as Texmati, Minute, Mahatma, Adolphus, Comet, Success as well as Skinner, Ronzoni, American Beauty and Creamette brands for Pasta. He is a former Chairman of the USA Rice Federation, an industry organization whose members are composed of all major farmers, millers, marketers and seedsmen in the rice producing states of Arkansas, Texas, Louisiana, California, Mississippi and Missouri.
Civic Service
Mayor Denman is a 32-year resident of Nassau Bay and served as a City Councilman for 9 years, Economic Development Committee for 9 years, Dredging Sub-Committee for 12 years (two of them as chairman), Planning Commission for 2 years, Fire Department Subcommittee for 6 years, and the Hotel Tax Appropriations Subcommittee for 10 years. He is a board member of the Bay Area Houston Convention and Visitors Bureau. He has also co-chaired Beautification Day many times. Mayor Denman counts as one of his greatest accomplishments the initiation of the annual peninsula cleanup day that he started in 1996. Beginning in 2004, the event was coordinated with Clear Creek Environmental Foundation (CCEF) that annually sponsors a cleanup day for most of the Clear Creek area including the City's peninsula. While on City Council, Mayor Denman was successful in getting Council to agree to open up the peninsula to visitors starting with a few days a week and eventually moving to seven days a week. He was also successful in starting the City’s first curbside recycling program in 2011. It has become one of the most popular programs in Nassau Bay in regards to citizen participation. Other recent major accomplishments include a new fire station (opening June 2018), new streets for Harbour, Basilan and San Sebastian, as well as a new David Braun park parking lot and expanded jogging sidewalk around the park. Those new streets, park parking lot, and sidewalks, were primarily funded by Harris County, thanks to the cooperation by Harris County Pct. 2 Commissioner Jack Morman.
His areas of focus include infrastructure repairs, economic development, and city beautification (especially all waterfront areas including the peninsula). He is most proud of his association and founding of the Clear Lake Area Mayors group that meets about four times a year to talk about cooperative agreements and other area issues that impact our cities, sharing helpful information and suggestions on what works and what does not. Quoting Mayor Denman, “we have a great group of Mayors in our organization that believe in serving our cities, no one has a partisan agenda, and we are dedicated to city economic issues, not moral, social or other things that divide us.”