Mark Scarp's career includes several positions in daily newspaper journalism, from general assignment reporter to assistant metro editor to community affairs editor to editorial writer and columnist. Then from 2009 to 2012, he served on the staff of the 3,400-member Society of American Business Editors and Writers as its membership coordinator. From 2012 to 2016 he was communications manager at the Phoenix-based Heard Museum, a world-renowned museum of American Indian art, culture and history. From 2017 to 2019 he worked in marketing communications for the Arizona Commerce Authority, then as public information officer of the Arizona State Land Department. Since 2019 he is media relations officer at ASU's Watts College of Public Service and Community Solutions. Among his volunteer services activities include six years on the national board of directors of the Society of Professional Journalists, two years on its Executive Committee; six years as president of the Valley of the Sun (Phoenix) SPJ chapter, where he continues to serve as board member; and 24 years as a member of the board of directors of the First Amendment Coalition of Arizona, where from 2001 to 2005 he was its president.