Mark Thiele joined MFR in February 2008, bringing his extensive experience in the low-income housing industry and disaster housing to the MFR team. He is certified in the National Incident Management System (NIMS), Housing Choice Voucher Program (HCV), HCV Financial Management & Reporting and is a certified Housing Quality Standards (HQS) inspector.

Currently, Mr. Thiele is acting as the program director for the Harris County Disaster Housing Assistance Program (DHAP) for Hurricane Ike in Houston, Texas. He previously acted as housing director and program director for the Harris County DHAP program for hurricanes Katrina and Rita, managing up to (40) staff responsible for rental subsidies to more than 5,000 families.

Mr. Thiele has participated in a wide variety of consulting engagements nationwide. He has been responsible for hiring, training and supervising departmental and team staff of up to 60 individuals and has considerable experience drafting and implementing policies and procedures. In previous long-term assignments in Chicago, Houston, Memphis and Louisiana, he redesigned workflow and job functions to improve operational performance, designed reports and reporting processes, and created and supervised quality assurance programs. Mr. Thiele has also participated in SEMAP and HCV management assessments at PHAs around the country. Recently, he spent 18 months as a subcontractor on the Road Home program, the largest single housing recovery program in U.S. history. During his tenure, he managed staff in startups at seven housing assistance centers in Baton Rouge, Jefferson, Terrebonne, St. Bernard, Plaquemines and Orleans parishes, as well as in Houston. His final role on the project was special projects manager responsible for the Mobile Home Special Project Team, compromised of 25 staff processing mobile home applications. He also oversaw the condo team, made up of 17 experts on condo policy who processed condominium applications. Mr. Thiele has also provided HQS training nationwide.

Mr. Thiele earned a Master of Arts in international relations from the University of Chicago and a Bachelor of Arts in psychology and anthropology from the University of Texas at Austin.

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