Candidate for
Council Member; City of Carlsbad

Mark Packard Biography

Mark grew up in Carlsbad and has enjoyed watching his hometown grow into the thriving city it is today under the competent leadership of those who have been elected to office.

He is the owner of Packard Dental Group in the Village of Carlsbad, where he has served patients for more than three decades. Mark is a second-generation dentist. His father and two uncles opened Packard Dental in 1963. Today, two of Mark's sons practice at that dental office. As a local businessperson, he is sensitive to what it takes to run a small business.

Mark strongly believes that being active in his community is the only way to improve it. It is a philosophy of service that permeates the very core of his entire family. His uncle, Ron Packard, served as a Trustee of the Carlsbad Unified School District, as a Carlsbad City Councilperson and as Mayor, before being elected to Congress as a write in candidate in 1982 and serving for 18 years. Mark served two terms as a Carlsbad Unified School Board Trustee before seeking election to the Carlsbad City Council in 2002. He currently serves as Carlsbad's Mayor Pro Tem, handling many of the duties of Mayor Matt Hall, when the Mayor is out of town.

Mark's civic responsibilities don't stop with City Hall. He serves on many city-related boards and commissions including as Vice Chairperson of North County Transit District (NCTD), as NCTD's representative on the SANDAG Board of Directors and as Chair of the North County Fire Dispatch Joint Powers Agreement (JPA). He has served as Chair of the City/Schools Coordinating Committee, Chair of the Encina Wastewater Authority, as Board Member of the Buena Vista Lagoon JPA and as the city's representative with the League of California Cities.

He is an active member of the Carlsbad Hi-Noon Rotary Club and the Carlsbad Chamber of Commerce, and a leader in the Boy Scout's, his church, and many humanitarian projects in both the U.S. and internationally. One of Mark's most rewarding activities is providing pro-bono professional dental services to underprivileged children in Mexico through Rotary International. Mark's wife, Bonnie, assists him on these projects.

He was awarded the prestigious Masters Meed Community Leadership Award in 2005 by the Carlsbad Chamber of Commerce and honored as a Distinguished Citizen by the San Diego-Imperial County Council of the Boy Scouts of America in 2008.

He has a Bachelor of Science in Zoology from Brigham Young University and a Doctor of Medicine in Dentistry from Washington University. Mark speaks fluently in Spanish, a skill that has helped him professionally, civically and as a community volunteer.

A husband and father of six children, and currently "grandpa" to 16 grandchildren, Mark values and continues to defend the traditional family values that have been one of Carlsbad's strengths. In October 2014, Mark's 17th grandchild is expected to arrive. Three of his children and nine grandchildren live in Carlsbad.

So when Mark says he wants a secure future for Carlsbad for him, Bonnie, his children and his grandchildren, he speaks with good reasoning and sincere motives. But he also wants these same things for every other family as well.