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Biography
Mark E. Benden, PhD, CPE received his BS in bioengineering, MS in industrial engineering and PhD from Texas A&M University. He is also a Certified Professional Ergonomist (CPE #706). His career includes experience as an officer, an inventor, a rehabilitation engineer, an ergonomics consultant, a plant & corporate ergonomics engineer and executive vice president. His career includes work for organizations from the United States Army Reserve, Johnson & Johnson, Neutral Posture and to Texas A&M University. By the age of 32 he was an officer of a NASDAQ traded company. He currently serves as Executive Director of the Texas A&M Ergonomics Center and is Department Chair for the Environmental & Occupational Health Department within the School of Public Health.

He is the founder of four faculty led startups - PositiveMotion LLC, Stand2Learn LLC HumanateDigital and the Wellbeing Code Inc and has licensed seven different products to four different companies since becoming a faculty member in 2008. His 30-year career in occupational safety and ergonomics has produced multiple processes, tools and devices to decrease injury and illness risk. Most of those devices are still protected by 24 US Patents, and Dr. Benden has multiple patents pending. Sales of those items carrying his patent numbers have totaled over $750 M, and the expected lifetime economic impact of those designs exceeds $2B. Stand2Learn, his most recent startup, was acquired in 2018 by Varidesk after a five-year run up. More than 2,000,000 children in all 50 states and 32 countries have used his desks, and under his leadership as CEO, his company was initially profitable with year-over-year growth averaging more than 100%. Awards for the success of Stand2Learn include 2019 VET50 list (#35) & 2018 Inc 5000 (#567) and #5 on the 2018 Aggie 100 (#5).

Dr. Benden is the author of many articles, books and book chapters on ergonomics and has been called upon to speak and lecture to multiple professional groups throughout the United States, Canada, Asia, Europe, the Caribbean and Central and South America. He has been married to his wife, Teresa for 33 years and has 3 sons, 3 daughters in-love and 7 grandchildren.
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