Mark Turner, Ph.D.
President & Chief Executive Officer

Dr. Mark Turner is the Founder, President, and Principal Associate at Optimal Solutions Group (Optimal), a small, minority-owned research firm offering rigorous, non-partisan policy analysis and technical assistance to government agencies, non-profit organizations, and commercial firms.  He has over 13 years of experience in designing research studies and conducting policy research and empirical studies, as well as management experience and skills necessary to lead large-scale multi-site studies. He has served as Principal Investigator and Quality Control Reviewer for such projects as the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Path 39 Manufactured Housing Survey, the 602 Non-Profit Disposition Study, and the Historically Black Colleges and Universities Community Grant Program; the Department of Health and Human Services' Supporting Healthy Marriage Project; the Department of Education’s National Charter School Evaluation and the Study of Teacher Preparation in Early Reading Instruction.  Many of these projects are randomized field trials where Dr. Turner has managed recruitment, large scale data collection, and technical working groups. He also oversees the study design and econometric analysis for the District of Columbia’s Court Services and Offender Supervision Agency’s Drug Testing Algorithm.

Prior to founding Optimal, Dr. Turner was a Research Scientist at the Institute for Policy Studies and an Adjunct Assistant Professor in the Department of Economics at Johns Hopkins University. Prior to JHU, he was a Research Associate at the Urban Institute and prior to that worked for the Government Accountability Office.

Dr. Turner is a member of the Board of Directors for the Central Maryland American Red Cross.  He earned a B.A. in economics from Michigan State University and a Ph.D. in economics from the University of Maryland.

Dr. Turner's Other Affiliations
Adjunct Professor, Georgetown Public Policy Institute, Georgetown University
Adjunct Assistant Professor, Department of Economics, Johns Hopkins University
Research Affiliate, Joint Center for Poverty Research, University of Chicago/Northwestern    University
Advisory Board Member, D.C. Commission on Black Men and Boys
Secretary and Web Administrator, National Economic Association
Member, American Economic Association
Member, American Evaluation Association
Member, Baltimore Area Evaluators
Member, Justice Research and Statistics Association
Member, Prince George's Chamber of Commerce