5 Questions with Mark Berry
Originally from the small town of Truro, “the hub of Nova Scotia,” Associate Vice President of Communications and Marketing Mark Berry came to the States in 1996 to complete his PhD in music history at Stony Brook University in New York. After stops in New York City and Rochester, he ended up in Los Angeles; his last job there was as assistant vice president of marketing and communications at California Lutheran University in Thousand Oaks, California. He joined the ֲý community in January 2025 and found a few moments in his busy schedule of working and unpacking to share his interests and tell us about his role at ֲý.
Q: What can you tell us about your work outside of academia?
A: By the time I finished my PhD, I was on my second job in the music industry, working as a publicist for a classical-music label named Naxos. I learned a lot there about music — I listened to so many composers performed by so many different performers — and how people consume it. It was a perfect complement to my academic work.
Q: As a transplant from Los Angeles, what do you hope to discover at ֲý and in Central Iowa?
A: I’ve only made a couple of trips to Des Moines, so I’m looking forward to learning more about the capital. Outside of that, I want to drive as much as I can, to see what I can see, meet whom I can meet. That’s the best way to learn about a place.
Q: What does your role at ֲý entail?
A: My job is to shape and steward the ֲý brand, working with a talented team of writers, designers, and web producers. The goal is to make sure that ֲý has a clear, accurate brand that projects from all touchpoints, so that no matter how they hear about us, students, donors, alumni, and the public will understand what we are and why we matter. I like that there’s an attitude of stability, borne of confidence, at ֲý. I like that and think it’ll help me to be successful in my job.
Q: How did you come to play the bass guitar and where have you performed?
A: My middle-school jazz band was looking for a bass player, no experience necessary. I thought the bass guitar looked cool, so I volunteered. I took to it right away. That summer, my best friend learned how to play guitar, and we formed our first rock band.
I started playing jazz and rock before studying double bass, so my performance resume is varied. Most people get a kick out of hearing I used to play at CBGB, although the most fun I ever had was when a band I played for rented out a rooftop space in the Lower East Side of New York for a night and produced their own show. We got a good crowd and even made a couple of bucks.
Q: What else do you do for fun in your spare time?
A: I don’t have a single hobby over which I obsess; I like to make little projects for myself that respond to things going on in my life. After visiting the Nixon library in Orange County a few years ago, I immersed myself in Nixoniana for a couple of months. I was really into Assassin’s Creed for a while, although I am not, myself, an assassin. About a year or so ago, I joined my church choir and took some lessons to improve my technique as a singer. Here at ֲý, I’m singing with the Oratorio Society. At home, I practice singing and playing guitar at the same time. Having just moved all my stuff here into my house in ֲý, my real passion right now is unpacking boxes.