Mark Konlock holds bachleors degrees in Civil Engineering from the University of Wisconsin – Madison as well as in Horticulture from the University of Wisconsin – River Falls.  He was a consulting engineer for 3.5 years before realizing engineering was not his passion so he returned to college to study horticulture. He served briefly as an Extension agent in Walworth County, Wisconsin; worked at a wholesale greenhouse; evaluated seed germination tests; labored on a fruit research farm; and created a yard waste recycling program in Waukesha County, Wisconsin, before taking his current position as Director of Horticulture at Green Bay Botanical Garden (GBBG) in 2005.  During his tenure, the garden has expanded by 7 acres and increased the plant collection by 1,571 taxa and almost 26,000 plants.  In recent years, the garden has expanded into horticultural science by becoming part of the northern Earth-Kind observational rose trial program and evaluated annual seed and vegetative crops for Ball Horticulture.  Mark has judged the Wisconsin Landscape Contractors Association awards and writes one of the Hot Plant features for Wisconsin Gardening magazine.