Mr. Hughes is a noted marketer and "market evangelist" who is an expert at growing consumer e-commerce businesses through non-traditional marketing techniques. He is currently the CEO of Buzzmarketing, an online marketing and branding agency which espouses the "out-think vs. out-spend" philosophy that Mark applied so successfully to his own businesses.

Prior to founding Buzzmarketing, Mark was Vice President of Marketing for eBay's Half.com division (the #1 Internet retailer of used books, music and movies). Hughes literally put Half.com on the map by convincing Halfway, Oregon to rename itself to Half.com. A move still heralded as one the biggest publicity coups ever, and which shortly preceded the sale to eBay for over $300 million. Hughes grew Half.com from zero to 8 million registered users in less than three years. Hughes brings a wealth of creative and quantitative experience in consumer marketing from PepsiCo's Pizza Hut Division, Pep Boys and American Mobile Satellite.

Mr. Hughes holds his MBA from Columbia Business School in Marketing and International Business. His Buzzmarketing concept has won two Icon Awards in radio as well as alternative media.

Hughes' book, Buzzmarketing, was heralded by Fast Company as one of "The Ten Best Business Reads of 2005".