Mark B. Dusza, born as Lawrence Andrew Parker, had his first job at age ten as a popcorn hawker in a local baseball park. It was in the rusty steel mill town of Warren, Ohio where he quickly mastered the sales and marketing skills that would carry him though academia, and his personal and professional lives. 

Attending Catholic elementary and secondary schools run by strict nuns and liberal Franciscan friars, Mark excelled as a theological scholar and was offered acceptance to the Notre Dame Seminary, but chose the radical incubator, Ashland College, where he was given a pole-vaulting scholarship. Drifting from Philosophy to Political Science, he finally transferred to the University of Northern Colorado because there was a 12:1 female to male student ratio.

​

From the Dean’s list to basement dweller, Dusza supported his way through five more years of college by distilling and distributing two varieties of Moonshine: Fightin’ and Fuckin’. Graduating in 1981 with a self-designed Interdisciplinary Degree in Environmental Photography, Mark struggled to peddle his photographs to the national magazine market.

 
In 1982 while washing dishes in an Estes Park, Colorado restaurant, Dusza had a stroke of good fortune when one of his photos of the Lawn Lake Flood mysteriously landed on the cover of Newsweek Magazine. Parlaying his earnings into a start-up cottage business, the clever Dusza created the “All Purpose Generic Disc” to compete with Whamo’s patent contested Frisbee. 

In 1983 when the Federal Courts upheld Whamo’s patent, Dusza was forced to pull his product from the shelves at which time he moved into a school bus that he converted into a mobile home and darkroom. Traveling the Southwest playing freestyle frisbee and selling his Generic Discs at street festivals, he eventually ran out of money for gas in Tempe, Arizona where he began an unprecedented career in the hospitality industry by creating a bogus culinary resume. 

From 1984 to 1990, Dusza held over 40 positions with 15 different hospitality companies. A highlight included working as Director of Business development for a private prison operator that provided food service contracts to jails and prisons. Turned off by the corrupt business practices of correctional food service management (he was fired), Mark headed off into the Arizona desert on a vision quest to discover his purpose. Mistaking Amanita Muscaria for an edible mushroom, Mark’s week-long out-of-body experiences lead him to India where he dedicated his energies to saving the poorest of the poor children in the ghettoes of Calcutta. 
           

While volunteering at Hope Academy in Calcutta, Mark was inspired by his introduction to Mother Theresa. Absorbing the sisters’ culture and diet, he subsequently coined a television show concept called “Extreme Cuisine” that he pitched to the Food Network. While he was scriptwriting and preparing to shoot his pilot, he discovered that the Food Network was already advertising the show without a signed contract. This must be great, he thought. No! Unfortunately, it was just another corporate rip-off. The unscrupulous network stole his name and attached it to one of their own concepts. This time he had the law on his side. Specifically trademark law. After threatening a lawsuit, the network quickly settled out of court and Dusza was flush with cash.

In 1992 Mark set out to consult with other small entrepreneurs who might be experiencing similar pitfalls. On the side he sold high profile sponsorships and implementing revolutionary non-profit human resource cooperatives. In 1998 he fell in love with a cheese monger whose family owned a small gourmet cheese importing and distributor business in Colorado. For three years he lived on a diet of Triple Crème Brie, Organic French Roquefort and homemade baguette, until for health reasons, he was forced and leave his love behind. Ya, she dumped him.

While couch surfing at a college buddy’s place in Boulder, a local naturopath suggested a cleansing fast. Continuing in his extremist ways Dusza opted for a Gandhi-like fast. During the mind-altering phase of his 90-day grieving and cleansing, Mark was given the divine providence for Organic Food Brokers, an outsourced sales and brand management company that would support local, sustainable and organic food start-ups.

​

From 2001 to 2015 OFB flourished and at the pinnacle had a dozen employees supporting 160 clients; several of which needed capital and the Food Network settlement cash needed a home. After a couple of insider tips, angel investments and some savvy equity for service trades, OFB struck gold with two clients that were purchased by public companies. Inspired by their success and subsequently his, it was time to sell OFB and retire. The OFB sale happened quickly and while he was ready to travel the world, fate would throw him another twist.

In that same year a former client and granola girl offered him a VP of Sales role, and it was time to sell granola. A surprise to even himself, the granola brand went from $3.5 million in 2015 to $85 million in 2021 and in 2025 hit almost $240 million. With a sale imminent and the golden parachute ready to deploy, it became clear that Mark Dusza aka Lawrence Andrew Parker should tell the true story of the Happy Coyote…