Mark Kinders, a 31-year veteran of public higher education, is Vice President for Public Affairs at the University of Central Oklahoma (UCO), serving the 1.5 million residents of the Oklahoma City metropolitan area. His responsibilities include federal, state, business and community relations. With a long history of community and public service to his credit, Kinders specializes in facilitating groups into start-up, expanding their influence, guiding strategic planning and assisting in facilitated decision-making. During his time at UCO, he has served as inaugural president of COSTEMA, a collaboration that seeks to improve K-12 STEM education to 150,000 school children in nine school districts in Oklahoma and Logan counties, to include Oklahoma City and Edmond public schools.

Kinders holds a Bachelor of Science in Journalism from the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University, a Master of Arts in History from University of Wisconsin - River Falls, a Master of Public Affairs through the Executive Program at the Hubert H. Humphrey School of Public Affairs at the University of Minnesota and a doctorate in higher education administration from the University of Arkansas.