Mark Stowers is currently President of Tolle Lege Inc. and owner of The Homeschool Gathering Place, a Raleigh based bookstore focused on K-12 educational materials. The store serves customers from the entire Eastern part of North Carolina, providing both new and consigned curriculum, learning materials and seminars designed to help Homeschool families be successful. The store has been in business for 25 years with Mark, along with his wife Laura, having purchased the store in January, 2020. The number of Homeschools in NC has grown every year for the past 35 years (except one year) with an increase of 21% from 2019-20 to 2020-21. The company provides support for new and experienced homeschool families on their journey.

Prior to forming Tolle Lege, Mark worked for IBM for more than 31 years, having retired in 2020. He spent his entire career in Software, serving in a variety of roles including Development, Product Management, Services and Support. A majority of his IBM career was focused on direct customer facing roles, driven by his desire to help clients be successful. Mark served as Director of Security Product Services his final 6 years, leading a worldwide team of more than 425 professionals in the delivery of product services designed to protect and detect cyber security incidents. In this role, Mark was responsible for all aspects of product deployment for IBM’s Security portfolio, including product services strategy, sales, delivery, investment planning and execution. His team delivered client engagements to hundreds of clients annually around the world as well as providing sales support and developing intellectual capital and service offerings.

Mark earned a Bachelor of Science from Wake Forest University in Mathematics and Economics in 1989. He resides in Raleigh, North Carolina. He enjoys sports, reading, spending time with family and serving in his church. He is married and the father of four.