Mark Leo is the Strategic Campaigns Coordinator for SEIU Local 221, a public sector union representing San Diego County employees, employees in cities across San Diego and Imperial Counties, Head Start employees, school employees, Court Reporters, and community health clinics. SEIU Local 221 is also part of the Service Employees International Union – the largest union in the country, with over 2.2 million members. Mark organized county employees for fair contracts and served as lead organizer in contract campaigns in Chula Vista, National City, and Imperial Beach. In his first year, he managed the first coordinated campaign targeting union and non-union Asian American Pacific Islander (AAPI) voters in San Diego around the No on Prop 32 campaign, contributing to the rise of 14,000 newly registered Filipino American voters in the city during the 2012 general election and a successful campaign.  Mark continues to keep members engaged in political organizing. In the 2014 general election, he recruited 56 volunteer shifts throughout Chula Vista and National City supporting SEIU endorsed candidates. In 2016, he was the lead organizer in the campaign to unionize the workers of Operation Samahan Health Centers, which led to the first unionized community health clinic in County of San Diego.  He is proudest when he sees workers feel empowered, and when they successfully agree on terms with their employers.

He is currently the Vice President of the Asian American Pacific Islander Democratic Club of San Diego and a member of the Students for Economic Justice steering committee. Mark is also an alumnus of the San Diego Leadership Alliance, a nonpartisan nonprofit that helps develop the next generation of progressive leaders in San Diego.

Born in Baguio City, Philippines, Mark immigrated to Southeast San Diego s at the age of one, after his father joined the United States Navy.  He received undergraduate degrees in History and Asian American Studies from the University of California, Santa Barbara. During and after college, he concentrated on social and economic justice issues.  He received his MA in Asian American Studies from San Francisco State University, a program he chose because it pushed students toward community work and organizing.

Mark has published articles in the Encyclopedia of Asian American Folklore and Folklife, Asian American Identities and Practices: Folkloric Expressions in Everyday Life, Igorot By Heart: Keynotes and Selections of a Generation and Positioning Southeast Asia in the Globalized World. He also has presented and submitted papers for various conferences such as the Annual National Conference of the Association of Asian American Studies, 4th Intl Conference on Southeast Asia, Igorot International Consultation, Ethnic Studies Conference, as well as the Decolonizing the University Conference. He has delivered guest lectures at San Diego State University on both communities organizing and Filipino Igorot American sociopolitical and cultural history.  Because of his community roots and organizing background, he has served as an advisor on several political candidates’ campaigns throughout the region.