Mark Piotrowski was raised in Stickney, Illinois, just outside Chicago, in a working-class family where discipline, responsibility, and work ethic were expected.

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His father was an hourly General Motors worker who also served in the Army Air Corps during World War II. Stationed in Egypt as a mechanic, he was reassigned when commanders learned he could speak Polish, assisting British forces working with Polish troops in the Allied air campaign. After the war, he took a job at GM and, despite never attending college, worked his way up from the shop floor to become a process engineer — proof that skill, discipline, and persistence can open doors.​​

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Growing up around that example shaped Mark in very practical ways. He can still remember being five or six years old, standing beside his dad, handing him tools while dad “fixed stuff.” Those moments sparked something.

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Mark discovered early that he loved the puzzle of it all — the game, the challenge, the figuring it out. He wasn’t just interested in how machines worked, but in how systems worked — how problems could be identified, broken down, and solved. Watching his father move from hourly labor into engineering taught him something simple: if you were willing to work and willing to learn, you could solve bigger problems.