ABOUT ME

Hi there! My name is Mark Schaer, and I am a graduate from the MBA program at the Wisconsin School of Business with a concentration in Real Estate.

I received my Bachelor’s degree from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in May of 2017 with a major in Marketing and a minor in Public Relations. After graduation, I worked in my hometown of Rockford, Ill. in media, marketing, and insurance.

My first paid position upon entering the workforce was as the Sports Assistant at the Rockford Register Star, Rockford’s local newspaper and media source. Here, I continued to hone my writing and communication skills. I was able to write feature stories and cover live events during my time at the Register Star.

I remained at the Register Star for nearly two years in a part-time role, but accepted a full-time marketing and insurance assistant position in the fall of 2017 at Eckburg Insurance Group, a local agency in Loves Park, Ill. Here, I managed the agency’s marketing efforts and learned the insurance business from the back end; I specialized in quoting personal lines policies and did quite a bit of work in property insurance, specifically on how to insure rental properties.

My goal upon graduation from the Wisconsin School of Business has been to move towards a professional role in real estate development, specifically in adaptive reuse and historic rehab, which I have witnessed firsthand is a powerful tool in transforming communities. I will be restarting the full-time job search in May of 2022, after I complete two internships in Madison working for an affordable housing developer and a non-profit organization.

In my free time, I love getting outdoors and staying active. Pickup basketball games (or really any sport) are a favorite pastime of mine. I am passionate about my hometown of Rockford, Ill. and have been inspired by the rebirth of the downtown area over the past 10 years. I hope one to continue this mission of improving the city through professional and volunteer work alike.