Mark Sanders

Mark Sanders is the Chairman of R3. He co-founded the firm in 2010 after retiring from the U.S. Navy after more than 20 years as a Special Operations officer and Master EOD technician. His last three active-duty assignments were focused on the Counter-Improvised Explosive Device (C-IED) threat at the Joint IED Defeat Organization and U.S. Central Command, commanding Navy EOD Training and Evaluation ONE, and as Deputy Commander of Combined Joint Task Force Troy, Iraq’s multinational and interagency counter-IED brigade task force. Additional tours included Operations Officer on a Mine Countermeasures ship, Officer in Charge of an EOD detachment for a carrier battle group during Operation Desert Strike, Executive Officer of the Navy’s Experimental Diving Unit, and overseas duty with the U. S. Seventh Fleet as lead planner for multinational exercises Cobra Gold (Thailand) and Balikatan (Philippines). His personal decorations include the Bronze Star.

In December 2021, Mark led R3’s transition to a combined Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned and Employee-Owned business as President and CEO. In May 2024, he bifurcated those roles as part of business succession planning and in April 2026 became Chairman of R3.

He received his Bachelor of Science in Oceanography with merit from the U.S. Naval Academy and has master’s degrees in National Security and Public Administration and executive education at Pepperdine and USC Marshall School of Business. He is on the Board of Directors of Command Post Technologies, an employee-owned cyber security and network engineering government services firm, is Vice Chairman of the Navy Special Operations Foundation, on the Board of Directors of the EOD Warrior Foundation, and President of the Las Vegas Chapter of the Navy EOD Association.