MEET WILLIAM MARKS

My family and I moved to Texas after my 22-year career in the military and 6-year career at Meta. After 18 military moves across the country and overseas, it was time to call Texas home. My family's Texas roots go back to the 1800s. 

My wife is a graduate of the University of Texas Arlington, and my kids are enrolled in Texas public schools.

I’m a combat veteran, six time Navy communications award winner, and U.S. Atlantic Fleet Destroyer Squadron 24 Shiphandler of the Year, and Macarthur Foundation/United Way Courage Project award winner.

I graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1996 and spent the next 22 years serving my country. I navigated ships around the globe, worked in crisis communications at the Pentagon, briefed the United Nations Security Council at the Defense Intelligence Agency. 

In my work at Meta as a community manager for the Western U.S. I awarded $10 million dollars to schools, small businesses, and non-profits. I gained valuable experiences in the technology and communications field and know how to work with the private sector for the betterment of the American people.

In 2025 I founded Operation Caged Bird and raised more than $70,000 to provide banned books to students at the U.S. Naval Academy. After defeating the trump book ban I was awarded the Courage Project Award by the MacArthur Foundation and United Way.

In my final military assignment, I was the senior spokesperson for DoD intelligence issues, leading media engagement and special projects for the Vice President and Ambassador Nikki Haley. In this role I held a Top Secret / SCI security clearance.

Marks was Chief of Media for the U.S. Navy from 2015-2016, directing the Navy’s engagement with national and international journalists, including crisis communications during an international hostage situation, a mass shooting, and roll out of the Navy’s $160 billion budget proposal.

As communications director for the Navy’s Indo-Asia-Pacific Fleet from 2013-2015, I led communications for the Navy’s largest numbered fleet, interacting with 35 maritime nations across Asia. My team at 7th Fleet was awarded the Navy’s Thompson-Ravitz award for best crisis communication plan during the search for missing flight MH370, giving 182 on-the-record interviews over the 30-day crisis. It was my sixth time receiving the Navy’s highest award for public affairs.

During my deployment aboard aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln from 2009-2011, my team was awarded best internal communication program in the Navy, best overall communication program in the Navy, and best newspaper in the fleet.

Additional assignments include graduate school at San Diego State University, assistant director for personnel communications, and Executive Officer onboard “Old Ironsides”, representing the Navy to ambassadors, governors, and hundreds of thousands of visitors after 9/11.  At sea, Marks served aboard USS Gettysburg (CG 64) and USS Spruance (DD 963), USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72) and USS Blue Ridge (LCC 19). While on Spruance he was named a U.S. Atlantic Fleet “Shiphandler of the Year.”