Mark Gross Email Address

Founder and Former Chief Executive Officer of School Loop

I was in the last graduating class from McBride High School in 1971.

You can't learn to use a chainsaw from watching a video. I decided that right away after moving a ranch in Central Oregon. So I ran an ad in Craig's List, "Idiot Needs To Learn How to Use a Chainsaw". Found a great local person to help, and School of Ranch was born. School of Ranch combines my passion for education, the outdoors, and community building. New ranch and farm owners to build skills to manage their land responsibly, and rural communities that are seeing an influx of people like me need to build cohesion. By connecting newbies with experienced locals, School of Ranch helps people learn to mend fences while building bridges. I'm formerly the CEO/Founder of School Loop (www.schoolloop.com).  I sold School Loop in 2019.  I created School Loop while teaching high school in San Jose in 2004 to help keep kids in school and on track.  When I sold the company, we served over 4000 schools in 30 states. Prior to teaching, I served as Director of Internet Strategy for a Cowles Media Company, publishers of the Minneapolis Star Tribune, and moved to California in 1997 to help launch Business 2.0, a magazine about business in the Internet age.  Two years later, I was president of the Internet division of what had become a large public company. A call from my grandma tipped me off to the Internet crash of 2000. I left publishing just in time, and became a professional poker player. Inspired by 9/11, I went back to college, got my credential, and ended up in a windowless classroom in San Jose.  I began to experiment with ways to motivate students by integrating technology into the curriculum.  My work on collaboration earned me a $10,000 prize in my first year of teaching, but my most important work came after the district I worked in dismantled my learning community-based school in favor of a traditional high school. Based on my experiences, I created School Loop.  School Loop helps people work in teams to support students, and keeps everyone in the loop.  School Loop has helped millions of families and spawned interesting spin-offs like "Schoolloop Ruined My Life" on Facebook. Onward.