Gordon was born in New York City, New York, the son of Catherine and Crawford Gordon, ranchers from Kaycee in Johnson County, located in northern Wyoming. Reared on the Gordon Ranch, Gordon is still affiliated with the 48 Ranch Partnership in Kaycee. He graduated from St. Paul's School, an Episcopalianboarding school in Concord, New Hampshire, and Middlebury College in Middlebury, Vermont, where he met his first wife, the former Sarah Hildreth Gilmore. The couple married on March 7, 1981, in the Second Congregational Church in Greenfield, Massachusetts, where her parents resided. After graduating from college in 1979, he returned to Wyoming and worked on his family ranch before starting his own operation. Mark ran several successful businesses in Buffalo and Sheridan including two operations focused on outdoor recreation and tourism. He later worked in the oil and gas industry. In 1993, Gordon's first wife died in an automobile accident. After his wife was killed he focused on raising his two daughters who were four and two years old at the time. Gordon met his current wife, the former Jennie Muir Young, in 1998 and they were married in 2000. Together they own the Merlin Ranch east of Buffalo, also in Johnson County, Wyoming. In 2009, their ranch received the Society for Range Management Wyoming Section "Excellence in Rangeland Stewardship" award. They have four grown children: two sons and two daughters. Gordon has been volunteering and serving in leadership positions for important Wyoming causes for nearly forty years. He is currently on the boards of Volunteers of AmericaNorthern Rockies, Ucross Foundation and Willow Park Reservoir Company. He was previously on the Johnson County School Board, Wyoming Wildlife and Natural Resource Trust, Wyoming Stock Growers Tax Committee, Wyoming Environmental Quality Council, Wyoming Council for the Humanities, Northern Wyoming Mental Health Center, Powder River Conservation District, Johnson County Republican Party and the University of WyomingCollege of Agriculture Sheridan Research and Extension Center Advisory Board.
Congressional run
In 2008, Gordon was an unsuccessful candidate in the Republican primary for the United States House of Representatives for Wyoming's at-large congressional district seat held by Cynthia Lummis, also a former state treasurer and the wife of a Democratic former state representative, Alvin Wiederspahn. Former U.S. senator Alan K. Simpson of Cody, considered a moderate Republican, defended Gordon's candidacy though he stopped short of an outright endorsement because he is also friendly with Lummis. Nevertheless, former U.S. senator Malcolm Wallop did endorse Gordon as did the late Joseph B. Meyer, who was serving as state treasurer at the time. In the primary, Gordon garnered the endorsements of the Wyoming's two most prominent statewide newspapers: The Casper Star-Tribune and the Wyoming Tribune Eagle. Though polls and the financial advantage rested with Gordon in the primary campaign, he nevertheless lost the party nomination to Lummis.
State treasurer
Mead said that his selection of Gordon as the state treasurer over two other candidates proposed by the Wyoming Republican State Central Committee was based on Gordon's financial background and long-term commitment to the state. The treasurer manages the state's $15 billion in investments. Severance taxes on energy production are particularly important to the state budget. Gordon was sworn in as treasurer on November 1, 2012, by Wyoming Supreme Court Justice William Hill. Gordon was elected to a full term as treasurer in the 2014 Republican primary election. Under Gordon's leadership, Wyoming's portfolio grew from $15 billion to nearly $21 billion. Nationally, Mark was elected to serve as Western Regional Vice President of the National Association of State Treasurers. He has earned recognition three years running for his leadership and expertise. The Sovereign Wealth Fund Institute named him one of the "Top 100 Most Significant and Impactful Asset Owners and Public Executives." In 2016, under Gordon's leadership, Wyoming's portfolio was ranked 3rd in the world for transparency by the Peterson Institute for International Economics. As state treasurer, Gordon had success modernizing and professionalizing the office of state treasurer. Working with voters and the Wyoming Legislature, Gordon helped craft an amendment to Wyoming's Constitution which would allow the Legislature to designate certain funds of the State to be invested in stocks as well as bonds. The amendment passed in 2016.
Governor of Wyoming
Election
Gordon declined to run for Cynthia Lummis's seat in the U.S. House of Representatives in 2016, the same seat he ran for in 2008, and instead ran for governor of Wyoming in 2018. He won the Republican primary on August 21, 2018 and then won the general election on November 6, 2018, defeating Democratic state representative Mary Throne. Gordon was inaugurated on January 7, 2019.
