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CONTRIBUTED PHOTO Mark DeVolder grew up in Marshalltown and he attributes much of his success as a change management speaker to the Midwestern values instilled in him as a child.
By SUSANNA MEYER
TIMES-REPUBLICAN
The environment in which a person is brought up can shape a person for life. This is true for Change Management Speaker Mark.
DeVolder began speaking to organizations in the year 2000. Since then he has spoken for many companies around the world, teaching them how to overcome large-scale changes within their businesses.
He decided to get a doctorate in the 90s at Fuller. He focused specifically on how to create synergy in various organizations and how to help organizations going through change.
“After graduating, I thought, ‘Well, what could I really do with this?’ and I started looking at other organizations that were going through change,” DeVolder said.
He started researching companies in transition and realized there was a need to know how to deal with these changes. After this realization, DeVolder began to focus on change management, with a particular interest in the stages of business transition.
Through it all, DeVolder contributes much of his success to his upbringing in Iowa. He was born in Alaska, but his parents moved to Marshalltown when he was three, and he considers Marshalltown his hometown.
“For me growing up in Iowa — in Marshalltown — it really shaped who I was,” DeVolder said. “When I look at what it meant to be an Iowan, the values of the Midwest really shaped me, and I take those values with me into my job — into my work ethic. I learned what it was like to be a responsible and hardworking person.
Early in his career as a spokesperson for organizations, DeVolder spoke out on a number of topics, such as change
