Mark L. Hanlon Biography

Senior Vice President, USA

Compassion International

Working with children in poverty for the past 30 years, I've come to recognize that poverty is more than a lack of money.  Only a holistic combination of physical, economic, educational and spiritual development can release children from poverty and allow them to thrive, not just survive.                                                                                                                                                   - Mark Hanlon

Dedicated to permanently releasing children from poverty, not merely sustaining them through it, Mark Hanlon leads the work of Compassion International in the United States as the senior vice president, USA and serves on Compassion International's executive leadership team.

Hanlon was formally appointed to his current position in 2007, after serving 20 years in a number of leadership roles throughout the organization.  Under his leadership, the number of children being sponsored by U.S.-based donors has grown 249 percent-from some 176,000 to 616,000 children.  Today, Compassion serves more than 1 million children around the world through its one-to-one child sponsorship program.

Growing up in inner-city Chicago, Hanlon's desire to help children was influenced by the example of his parents, who operated an outreach organization for homeless people living on the city's streets.

At age 18, Hanlon became a Compassion child sponsor.  Through this one-to-one sponsor relationship, Hanlon was inspired by Compassion's one-of-a kind, holistic approach to meeting the physical, economic, educational and spiritual needs of a child in poverty.  The following year, while working his way through college, Hanlon began his more than 30-year career at Compassion.  His work in information technology, project management, customer service and marketing prepared him for his current role as Compassion, USA's senior vice president. 

Hanlon's resume includes a Bachelor of Science degree in computer information systems, and a Masters degree in business administration from Regis University in Denver. 

Along with his wife Joey, Hanlon resides in Colorado Springs, Colo.  Through Compassion International, the family currently sponsors children in Bolivia, Burkina Faso, Ecuador, El Salvador, Nicaragua and Peru.  Hanlon's adult son, Brent, sponsors two boys in Kenya and Bolivia.

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