Mark Novak is the President and Chief Operating Officer of Global Security Group, Inc. A retired Captain with the New York City Police Department, Mark served over twenty years in the New York City Police Department, twelve of those years as a supervisor. Mark’s experience includes six years as a Sergeant and Lieutenant assigned to task forces in Brooklyn during which time he responded to hundreds of large scale incidents and emergencies throughout New York City. From 1997 to 2001, he was a member of the NYPD’s COBRA team which was trained and equipped to respond to a chemical, biological or radiological attack or release within NYC. Prior to his retirement in 2006, Mark served as the commanding officer of one of the busiest detective Divisions in New York City.
Throughout Mark’s career, he received extensive training from agencies such as the NYPD, the FBI, the Department of Homeland Security and the City’s Office of Emergency Management. Topics included physical security, critical incident preparedness, counter terrorism, the national incident management system, hazardous materials, chemical nuclear and biological weapons, disorder control and emergency management among others. As a Captain, he served numerous times in the roll of incident commander at emergency scenes, including many biological or chemical threat incidents. While in the Detective Bureau, he oversaw numerous high profile and sensitive investigations, including many receiving considerable media attention. Mark was also assigned to the security details for the last three United Nations General Assemblies, the World Trade Organization Meeting in 2002 and the Republican National Convention.
Mark is certified by the New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services to teach the New York State Security Guard classes and by the Fire Department of the City of New York to teach the Non-Fire Emergencies and Active Shooter and Medical Emergency Preparedness Courses. He is a highly sought after instructor, teaching a number of courses to various private sector industries including bank robbery threat awareness, active shooter response, conflict resolution and deescalation, active shooter response and emergency response.
Mark has prepared emergency response plans for over one hundred high-rise buildings in NYC, including all of the World Financial Center, One and Two Penn Plaza, four of the United Nations Plaza buildings and the Bloomberg corporate headquarters. As Global’s COO, he has also coordinated the security details for many high-profile events including the internationally acclaimed Tribeca Film Festival.