Brigadier General Mark A. Cunningham is a native of Lancaster, Ohio and enlisted in the Marine Corps in July 1992. After graduating from the Ohio State University in 1996, he was commissioned as an officer. His first officer assignment was Analysis and Plans Officer at 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing in Southern California. He also deployed with the 13th Marine Expeditionary (MEU) as the Composite Squadron Intelligence Officer, where he supported Operation SOUTHERN WATCH in Kuwait.
In 2000, he moved to Miami, Florida, where he served as the Colombia Branch Chief, Joint Intelligence Center, U.S. Southern Command. He led a team of 40 analysts conducting intelligence in support of counterterrorism operations in Colombia. During this tour, he also served as the Senior Intelligence Analyst in Bogota, Colombia, for a U.S. hostage rescue operation. Later in 2003, he left active duty to take an assignment with the National Air and Space Intelligence Center (NASIC) to conduct intelligence analysis on adversary air, space, and missile systems. At the same time, he served in the Marine Corps Reserves as a Branch Chief and Senior Intelligence Analyst for U.S. European Command’s Regional Analysis Branch, Joint Reserve Intelligence Center, Ohio.
In 2009, he transferred to serve as a Plans Officer for Marine Forces Pacific (MARFORPAC), G-2, Hawaii, where he supported several exercises and real world crises. He mobilized in February 2011 to serve as the Senior Intelligence Analyst for a Joint Task Force in Afghanistan, during which he provided intelligence for over 110 combat operations.
In 2012, Brigadier General Cunningham was assigned as the Commander for Bravo Company, Intelligence Support Battalion (ISB) in Colorado. He served in this position for three years, until he became the Commanding Officer of ISB in 2015 where he led over 500 Marines and Sailors from four geographically dispersed companies stationed across 19 sites throughout the United States.
After battalion command, he joined 3rd Civil Affairs Group as a detachment commander until he was promoted to Colonel in May 2018 when he was activated for five months to serve as the Chief of Staff for Force Headquarters Group. Subsequently, he was selected as the Commanding Officer, 3rd Civil Affairs Group in March 2019, while also dual-hatted as the III Marine Expeditionary Force (MEF) G9. During his tenure, he served as a Combined/Joint Task Force Commander in Thailand for Exercise Cobra Gold in 2020 and spearheaded the development of new concepts and capabilities for Marine Corps Civil Affairs. He relinquished command in June 2021 and assumed the duties as Deputy Commander, Force Headquarters Group, Marine Forces Reserve, where he led the command’s campaign plan and future force design efforts.
In July 2022, he was promoted to Brigadier General and assigned as the Deputy Commander and Chief of Staff to NATO’s Joint Warfare Center (JWC) in Stavanger, Norway. He led a team of 261 joint and multinational personnel from 17 Allied Nations in the development and delivery of collective training and warfare development at the operational and strategic levels of war. He directed the JWC’s execution of five major NATO exercises, 14 wargames, and 150 planning and training events. During his tenure, JWC successfully delivered the largest and most complex command post exercise in the history of the NATO alliance, incorporating 7,000 personnel across 24 training audiences.
On 1 July, 2024 Brigadier General Cunningham assumed the duties of Commanding General, Force Headquarters Group, Marine Forces Reserves in New Orleans.