How One Aggie Engineered an Oil-Filled Journey

Mark’s love for solving complex problems made it easy to choose engineering in college.  

"I was always interested in math and science so the idea of building and making things work intrigued me,” Mark said. “Also, my father was a mechanical engineer working for a seismic company in oil and gas. He brought home seismographs which fascinated me as I had no idea about all the rock formations, structures and topography which lay hidden beneath our feet."

Choosing where to study was easy, too.

"With my dad being class of ’47 and my younger brother class of ’80, we enjoyed watching one Aggie game after another together. A&M was the number one school in petroleum engineering in the country when I was in high school,” Mark recalled. “With a scholarship of $500 a year from Getty Oil, I chose petroleum over other types of engineering. Scholarships, no matter how small, matter."

After graduating from Texas A&M, Mark’s passion for solving tough problems evolved into a career that spanned nearly four decades with ExxonMobil.

Over the years, Mark traveled to more than 30 countries, working alongside governments, navigating complex international relations, and leading global teams. His goal was to find and develop the energy resources the world relies on, even when technical and geopolitical odds were stacked against him. 

“A&M taught me how to both lead and serve. Education at A&M wasn’t focused on just the theoretical. It was practical problem-solving; it was teamwork and integrity. The A&M experience taught all the things one needs when making tough decisions with real-world consequences,” he says.

Whether it was Asia, Kazakhstan or West Texas, his mission remained the same: meet the global demand with integrity, innovation and leadership focused on the people who make it happen.

"The world needs about 100 million barrels of oil a day just to function – transportation, power, plastics, hospital equipment, you name it. That demand doesn’t stop, so somebody has to step up and meet it," he said.

That mindset kept him going – and eventually led to a discovery that boosted the oil industry. In Guyana, Mark led a team that discovered nearly 11 billion oil-equivalent barrels of recoverable resources. 

“We went seven or eight years in a row drilling dry holes. Those weren’t cheap,” Mark said. “But like all failures, those dry holes were a great teacher. Perseverance and trust in a faithful God kept me going. Then we hit it…a massive find in Guyana. It was the biggest deepwater oil discovery the industry had seen in decades. I give credit to God, who obviously put the oil there in the first place, and to a great team of geoscientists, engineers and businesspeople.” 

After decades of service to ExxonMobil and multiple stamps on his passport, Mark retired from the corporate world and went back to what he loves most: spending time with family. 

With 4 married adult children (Byron ’06, David ’10, Amanda ’11, and Amy ’15) and 15 grandkids (and counting), Mark and Cynthia love their days with family. “I was gone a lot,” he says. “Now it’s time to pour back into my relationship with Cindy and our family. Retirement has been far beyond anything I ever imagined.”

Mark has also found great satisfaction in mentoring men. He leads Bible Study Fellowship in the Houston and East Texas area, working with over a thousand men who are seeking guidance and purpose in God’s Word. “Life looks very different now, but I love it,” Mark said.

Helping people discover who they were made to be inspires Mark. That same heart is what brought him back to Aggieland, this time not as a student, but as a supporter.

Mark’s admiration for engineering faculty led him and Cynthia to establish the Cynthia and Mark Albers ’79 Family Endowed Faculty Fellowship in the College of Engineering.

According to Mark, "Faculty fellowships are about so much more than the money. They’re a shot in the arm. They tell a professor, ‘You matter, and your work matters. You are changing lives.’"

Faculty fellowships are designed to support the teaching, research, service and professional development activities of a full-time faculty member. And since these fellowships are endowed, the impact goes beyond one person, touching the lives of multiple engineers.

With thousands of real-world problems to solve, professors empower students to approach their courses with a common goal in mind: apply what you learn in the lecture halls and labs to generate applicable solutions. "Texas A&M offers the trifecta solution: world-class education, real-world problem-solving, and a culture of character and service. That’s rare and worth investing in," said Mark.

As a member of the Engineering Advisory Council, Mark notes that “we [Texas A&M] want the best professors in the world teaching here. Supporting them directly helps ensure Texas A&M continues to produce problem-solvers who solve the world’s greatest challenges with excellence and integrity."

Empowering faculty inspires Mark. He hopes that his family’s gift, alongside others, will allow Texas A&M to be at the forefront of providing opportunities for industry leaders and academics. Not only will expertise be shared but also support for a budding engineer’s life.

"I may never meet the people impacted by this gift. But I expect it will change lives. I expect it to reach someone, somewhere — and create a ripple effect for generations."