Lieutenant Colonel Mark F. DeSantis became the Deputy Commander, Seattle District, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, September 9, 2019. Lt. Col. DeSantis joined the District after serving as the Chief for the Geospatial Intelligence Learning Division at the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency in Springfield, Virginia.
Lieutenant Colonel Mark DeSantis served his company level assignments with the 65th Engineer Battalion, 25th Infantry Division and the 2nd Engineer Battalion, 2nd Infantry Division serving as the Task Force Engineer for both Light Infantry and Armor battalions. He was then selected to become a Project and Deputy Resident Engineer for the San Francisco District, working on multiple dredging projects and delivering the 50-foot Deepening Oakland Harbor Project, which used the dredged material to restore the Hamilton Army Airfield back into a wetland. During this time, he was deployed to Afghanistan to work as a USACE project engineer at Bagram, Afghanistan, and within the country of Kyrgyzstan. His culminating company grade assignment was as the Raleigh Recruiting Company Commander in Raleigh, North Carolina. After Command, he was once again selected for the US Army Corps of Engineers, Middle East District, to serve as the Kuwait Resident Engineer. He was then designated to become 5th Corps Deputy Engineer in charge of moving 5th Corps from Heilberg to Wiesbaden, Germany, and then deployed as the nucleus for the ISAF Joint Command Headquarters, Kabul, Afghanistan. While deployed, he served as the Deputy Chief, Afghanistan National Security Forces Engineer Development section responsible for the training, assessment and development of the entire Afghan Army Engineer Corps. Following the deployment, he served as the 7th Special Forces Group Engineer. He also deployed as the J7 Director for Combined Joint Special Operations Task Force – Syria serving as the Task Force senior engineer within the Levant region.
Lt. Col. DeSantis was commissioned in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in May 2001 from Clarkson University. He earned a Bachelor of Science Degree in Chemical Engineering from Clarkson University, in Potsdam, New York. He has also earned a Master of Science Degree in Environmental Engineering from the University of Missouri in Rolla, Missouri, and a Master of Science Degree in Geographic Information Science and Technology from the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, Georgia. He is also a graduate of the Army Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, and the Engineer Officer Basic and Advanced Courses at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri. He is a Project Management Professional and a licensed Professional Engineer in the state of Florida.
Lt. Col. DeSantis’ military awards and decorations include the Sapper and Ranger Tabs, Parachutist Wings, Air Assault Wings, Bronze Star Medal, Defense Meritorious Service Medal, Meritorious Service Medal with two Oak Leaf Clusters, Army Commendation Medal with three Oak Leaf Clusters, Joint Service Commendation Medal, Army Achievement Medal with four Oak Leaf Clusters, National Defense Service Medal, Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal, Afghanistan Campaign Medal with three Service Stars, Army Service Ribbon, Overseas Service Ribbon (4), and a NATO Medal. He is also the recipient of the Army Engineer Association’s Bronze Order of the de Fleury Medal.