- Mark Potter, Ph.D.

Mark Potter is the Provincial Assistant for Social Ministries in the California Province of the Society of Jesus – his job is to be a resource and catalyst for social justice efforts among the Jesuit high schools, universities, parishes, spirituality and retreat centers, and direct social service ministries in the states of California and Arizona.  In this role, Mark has been instrumental to the creation of the Kino Border Initiative at the US/Mexico border in Ambos Nogales, and the Jesuit Restorative Justice Initiative that seeks to change both the culture and the laws that sentence juvenile offenders to death in prison.  Mark also represents the California province in Jesuit shareholder advocacy efforts to promote commitments to fundamental human rights among some of the world’s most ethically-challenged corporations, such as Monsanto, Chevron, and Occidental Petroleum.

Mark grew up in Atlanta, GA.  He earned a B.A. with a double major in Philosophy and Religious Studies from Fairfield University in southeastern Connecticut.  After graduating from college, he spent a year and a half living and working among Caribbean and Latin American immigrants in an intentional community in Bridgeport, CT, while he taught theology and served as Campus Minister at a Catholic high school nearby.  He earned an M.A. degree in the Humanities (Ethics) from the University of Chicago; and holds a doctorate in Theological Ethics from Boston College.  His doctoral dissertation is titled:  “Solidarity as Spiritual Exercise:  a Contribution to the Development of Solidarity in the Catholic Social Tradition.”  Throughout his work as a student, educator, and social activist he has spent extended periods of time in Peru, Bolivia, Nicaragua, El Salvador, the Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Mexico and Poland.  Prior to his current job, Mark worked as the Assistant Director of the Center for Service & Action at Loyola Marymount University, where he directed the Alternative Breaks immersion program, worked with faculty to develop community-based learning courses, and taught a course on Latin American liberation theology.

Mark is married to Kristin Heyer, a professor of Christian ethics in the Religious Studies Department at Santa Clara University.  They have two young children, Owen & Luke.