Alexa Champions

Mark's programming journey started as a teenager learning BASIC with a TI-99/4a home computer and over 30+ years has included multiple languages: COBOL, Visual Basic, C#, and now JavaScript/TypeScript. For a science fair in the 1980's, he even tried creating a device to program a computer with your voice. The project was more ambitious than his current skill set, but the experience stayed with him. What else remains is his love of learning and the joy of programming.

In 2016, Mark discovered Amazon Alexa. At that time there were only 3000 published Skills and not many code examples. This required him to learn Node.js and AWS services such as Lambda, S3 and DynamoDB. Along the way he created code samples and founded the Phoenix Alexa Meetup. In 2017 he became an Alexa Champion and has been helping to build the voice-first community ever since.

Mark is a Senior Technical Director at RAIN, where he leads technical planning and execution for RAIN’s clients. He has been an early and frequent innovator in voice and an outspoken member of the global conversational AI community. Mark was recently designated as one of the top technologists in voice by Voicebot.ai, and is co-host of the Two Voice Devs podcast. He is a frequent contributor to apl.ninja and creator of various Open Source projects.

Alexa Skills Published

• Picture Guesser - The original tile removing, picture guessing game for Echo Show smart displays.
• Snatch Word - Play against players from around the world in real time snatching words before they can snatch them!
• Serve More - Find service opportunities near you in the US. Powered by JustServe.org