In Memoriam: Remembering AFCEA Committee Member Mark Emery
Mark Emery, a pioneer in the cellular communications industry and a longtime contributor to AFCEA International’s missions—especially through its committees—passed away April 3. He was buried today in his hometown of Pittsburgh.
Emery is survived by his wife, Barbara Josephine McAuley Emery; his older siblings, Susan Elizabeth Emery Plues and John David Emery, Jr.; his sons Mark Jeffrey Emery, Jr; and Patrick McAuley Emery (Ellen); granddaughters Isla, Fiona and Lydia; and his daughter Kara Josephine Brooks (Timothy).
Emery is credited as an inventor on seven patents related to cellular communications and the integration with wired communications. He also is considered a founding father of our modern wireless communication network.
By trade, Emery was an electrical engineer, graduating in 1976 from Carnegie Mellon University. He started his career at Bell Telephone Company of Pennsylvania, where he worked for 16 years, his wife said.
During his time at Bell, Emery was also a fellow at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, earning a Masters Degree in management of technology in 1991 from the Sloan Management School of Business, and transferred to Northern Virginia to join what would become Verizon Communications, Inc.
After leaving Bell, Emery became part of the team at American Personal Communications—a company originally funded by the Washington Post—that designed and built the first integrated voice-data-messaging mobile service in the United States called Sprint Spectrum. For his Sprint Spectrum efforts, he won a J.D. Power Quality Award.
Emery also helped found PingTone Communications, a Herndon, Virginia-based company that pioneered and continues to specialize in voice-over-Internet-Protocol phone and data communications.
After the attacks on 9/11, he was selected as the first deputy chief information officer of the newly established Transportation Safety Administration (TSA) within the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
As a senior executive at the DHS, Emery supervised the green field start-up and operation of the TSA network and application infrastructure and the modernization of Federal Aviation Administration’s systems to the new applications services. He also established the DHS’ $2 billion a year infrastructure consolidation program.
Later in his career, Emery became a consultant and worked with various companies, including veteran- and minority-owned businesses, that provided information technology services for federal agencies. He served as the managing member of The Emery Group, a consulting company he formed with two longtime friends.
He managed a $400 million portfolio of DHS contracts for a large systems integrator, where he introduced agile development, cloud computing and development security operations to his portfolio.
For AFCEA, Emery was instrumental to the Homeland Security and Cyber Committees, among other efforts. He helped identify key issues and topics in those industries, connect prominent leaders to speak at committee meetings or events and provided expertise across many technologies.
“I have known Mark Emery for more than 20 years as a friend and a colleague,” said fellow AFCEA Cyber Committee member Tarrazzia Martin, senior adviser, Enterprise Technology Planning and Change Management, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. “We shared many adventures during our government careers, from our days at the Treasury Department working at the ATF [Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives] and the IRS [Internal Revenue Service] telecommunications systems, to our days kickstarting and standing up the Department of Homeland Security. We and many others worked together fearlessly to lead, integrate and align mission operations of 22 disparate agencies to protect the homeland after 9/11. He was a stellar example of leadership balanced with human compassion.”
Most recently, Emery co-anchored the AFCEA Cyber Subcommittee working group that is examining cryptocurrencies, such as Web3, as well as blockchain technologies. “His insights and contributions were and are significant to the team and are the foundation of our ongoing efforts,” Martin said.
Sandy Peavy, longtime friend and colleague, appreciated Emery's dedication to homeland security.
"As DHS component chief information officers and plank members, Mark and I helped stand up the Department’s core communications, computing, and enterprise services, as well as the CIO Council’s governing structure and IT strategy," Peavy said. "I continued to work with Mark throughout the years as a member of AFCEA's Homeland Security Committee, in both government and industry positions, and as a consultant with his company, The Emery Group. But what I will miss most about Mark is his friendship-he was always there for people, reaching out when they needed it the most. I will forever be grateful for his friendship and the critical role he played in keeping our homeland safe."
Emery remained on the Board of Directors at PingTone and was a member of the Tauqa Systems Technology Advisory Board.
Outside of work, he was involved with Special Olympics golf and softball as a benefactor, coordinator and player/coach for his son Jeff’s teams. He led the Special Olympics golf program in Fairfax County in Virginia, running two sites and growing the program roster to include more than 60 golfers. He recruited new players, created player tournaments and accompanied players to state- and national-level tournaments. He was a co-chair at the Down Syndrome Association’s annual fundraising golf tournament each June at the Springfield Golf and Country Club in Virginia.
Through his Catholic parish, Saint John Neumann in Reston, Virginia, Emery was a member of Cursillo, Knights of Columbus, Adapted Religious Education and Kairos Prison Ministry. He taught religious education classes and led teens on mini work camps, running weekend home repair and renovation projects for members of the community in need.
Growing up in Pittsburgh, Emery attended Norwin High School, where he was captain of the tennis team, played trombone in the band and was on the swim team. He also was a lifelong Pittsburgh Steelers fan.
