Mark Richardson is currently a Commissioner for Rockingham County. He was originally elected
to the Board in 2012 and served as Chairman and Vice-Chairman three times. He is also Chairman of the
Piedmont Triad Regional Council of Government, the Regional Workforce Development Board and the
Administrative Board of Stokesdale United Methodist Church. Commissioner Richardson serves on the
board of the Boys and Girls Club of Eden, the Regional Planning Organization, the North Carolina
Association of Councils of Government (Secretary), the Piedmont Regional Area Transit board (Secretary),
the Vaya LME/MCO regional and executive boards and the Rockingham County Partnership for Children.
He also represents the Board of Commissioners to the Rockingham Community College Board of Trustees
and the North Carolina Association of County Commissioner’s Executive Board where he is a director at
large.
Commissioner Richardson is married to the former Kathryn Idol of Colfax. They reside in
Rockingham County near Stokesdale and have three children and seven grandchildren. He was raised on
a Rockingham County tobacco farm and has a BS from N.C. State University, MS/MA degrees from
Webster University and post graduate work with Peabody University. He joined the USAF immediately
after graduating from college.
He is a graduate of the Royal Air Force Air Staff College, the USAF Air War College, the Advanced
Nuclear Weapons Course and USAF Fighter Weapons Instructor school. He retired after 24 years in the
USAF as a Colonel and Command Fighter Pilot with over 5000 hours in various fighter aircraft. His
assignments included: director of leadership training for Air Command and Staff College, Chief of Counter
Drug Plans for U.S. Southern Command, operational test pilot, Operations Officer of 524 TFTS and
Commander of the 428" Fighter Squadron.
After leaving active duty, Colonel Richardson started the Junior AFROTC program at Rockingham
County High School. Within two years that program grew to be the largest in the Southeast Region. He
has concurrently operated private developments as part of limited liability partnerships and commercial
business as an executive.
Commissioner Richardson has represented Rockingham County as a member of the North
Carolina Association of County Commissioners’ Educational Steering Committee, Strategic Planning
Committee, Mental Health Task Force and the Health and Human Services Committee. He is a graduate
of the North Carolina School of Government Advanced Leadership Course.
Colonel Richardson has a diverse and extensive background as an educator. He was both a
platform and inflight instructor in the USAF. His teaching experience includes liberal arts, technical and
scientific subjects. He has taught in North Carolina public schools at the middle and high school level. He
has been a teacher at the undergraduate and graduate level of post-secondary education. As an
administrator, he has been a middle school principal of a charter school for five years and a middle/high
school principal of an alternative school for eight years.
As Commissioner, Colonel Richardson has been involved in connecting the local Rockingham
Community College with collaborative occupational training programs that include the local LEA
(ROCKATOP). He has also assisted in promoting the community college training programs to successfully
entice industrial investment in the county.