Mark Engholm

About Mark Engholm

Mark Engholm has more than 30 years of public safety experience at the local, state, and federal levels. He was appointed State Fire Marshal of Kansas by Governor Kelly in October of 2023.Mark started as a volunteer firefighter in Geary County in 1990. He attended Bradley University in Peoria, IL where he served as a volunteer firefighter and emergency medical technician with West Peoria Fire Department. He continued his studies at Kansas State University while serving as a Deputy Sheriff / Firefighter in Junction City. He began serving as a Trooper with the Kansas Highway Patrol shortly after receiving his Bachelor of Science and was assigned to Troop B- Osage County.Mark transferred to the Patrol’s General Headquarters in Topeka in where he was assigned as the legislative liaison to the Kansas House of Representatives, served as a public information officer, and performed research and planning duties. During his career with the Patrol he served in a number of different roles, including field training officer, firearms rangemaster, drug recognition expert, assistant bomb technician and trooper academy instructor. Mark was the first member of the Patrol assigned to the Kansas Intelligence Fusion Center, where he served as Deputy Director. During the last 10 years with the Patrol, he was assigned to the FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force where he conducted counter-terrorism investigations, was a member of the Hazardous Evidence Response Team, and earned FBI certification as a Weapons of Mass Destruction Coordinator. He served as a case agent on a number of complex investigations, including the attempted terrorist bombing of the hospital at Fort Riley in 2015 and the prosecution of ISIS female battalion leader Allison Fluke-Ekren.In addition to his law enforcement career, Mark continued to serve as a volunteer and part-time firefighter for 28 years. He served as a squad leader, public information officer, instructor, and Division Chief with the Shawnee Heights Fire District outside Topeka. He also served 10 years on the Kansas All-Hazard Incident Management Team as a Public Information Officer and Operations Section Chief. He responded to nationally declared disasters, including tornadoes, floods, and wildfires, in Kansas, Louisiana, and Alabama and is a Kansas Certified Emergency Manager. He taught Basic Public Information Officer and Advanced Incident Command courses around the state for the Division of Emergency Management. Mark continues to teach occasionally at the FEMA Center for Domestic Preparedness in Anniston, Alabama.

Experience

1. Hazardous Evidence Course Instructor

   Venesco, Llc

   Jan 2023 — Present · WA, US

   DHS Center for Domestic Preparedness Adjunct Instructor

Education

• The University of Kansas

  Certified Public Manager, Political Science and Government

• Kansas State University

  Bachelor of Science - BS, Social Sciences