Mark Fairbanks
Cofounder, Executive Director
Mark leads a devoted team of education and design professionals at Islands of Brilliance. Since the launch of the program in the fall of 2012, along with his wife Margaret he has guided the organization through constant evolution and growth, including an immediate and seamless pivot to distance learning necessitated by the COVID-19 pandemic. Islands of Brilliance (IOB) now has students from around the United States enrolled in all three layers of programming access, and continues to innovate its business model to meet the needs of the autistic community. IOB has pioneered the use of art, creativity, and creative technologies to spur self-confidence, independence, and pathways to employment for autistic individuals, and is now the subject of a research study being conducted by UW-Milwaukee funded by the National Endowment for the Arts. The inspiration for the program originates with his youngest son Harry, who was diagnosed on the autism spectrum just before the age of three. His TEDx talk 13 Years on an Island traces the personal story behind the creation of Islands of Brilliance.
Prior to Islands of Brilliance, a 27-year career in advertising, design, and digital saw Mark working for notable creative boutiques in Milwaukee, Minneapolis, and Chicago. During this period his work appeared in The One Show, Communication Arts, Graphis, and The Obies, while also receiving acclaim in Adweek, Creativity, and The New York Times. He was a member of the Creative Alliance, a cohort of notable agency creatives and agencies working on social impact initiatives during the final two years of the Obama Administration.
Mark also currently serves as the Entrepreneur in Residence for Social Innovation at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee’s Lubar Entrepreneurship Center, devoting time to working with undergraduate students on design methodologies, business model canvas, and thinking through prototypes of their ideas focused on social impact.
When not occupied with his work in the community, he finds artistic expression and mindfulness growing San Marzano tomatoes from seed and tending to the native prairie plants that welcome visitors to the Fairbanks’ family home in Shorewood, WI. During the summer months, you can also find him manning the Ferrari-red wood-fired pizza oven in the backyard, as he continually hones his Napoli-style skills as a pizzaiolo.
Email: mark@islandsofbrilliance.org
Social handles:
Twitter and Instagram: @markfairbanks
LinkedIn: markfairbanks