Dr. Mark Lerner is a NYC native who was born in the Bronx and grew up in the Tremont section of the Bronx and the Inwood neighborhood in Manhattan. Mark is an Eagle Scout from Troop 529, Manhattan.
Dr. Lerner is an Honors Graduate of The Bronx High School of Science. He holds BA and MA degrees from The City College of New York. Dr. Lerner was conferred a Ph.D. degree from The City University of New York Graduate School and University Center.
Dr. Lerner has a distinguished and highly decorated career in government law enforcement. He has served as a law enforcement officer, supervisor and executive. His experience includes 10 years as a New York State Parole Officer assigned to the Harlem and West Side Areas of Manhattan.
Dr. Lerner was appointed by the Chairman, NY State Board of Parole as the Director of Research for the Board of Parole. He is the author of "Guidelines for Parole Board Decision-making" and he envisioned and designed the first standardized sentencing guidelines system that is now used in every correctional facility in NY State.
Dr. Lerner's landmark study, "The Effectiveness of a Definite Sentence Parole System," was published in Criminology, The Journal of the American Society of Criminology. That research study was an important contribution to NY State's decision to expand the parole system throughout all the local county jails in NY State.
Dr. Lerner was appointed by the Governor to the NYS cabinet level "Governor's Transition Task Force on Alcoholism and Substance Abuse" and to the cabinet level "New York State Standards and Goals Task Force on Corrections".
Professor Lerner was appointed as an Assistant Professor and member of the graduate faculty in the Department of Law, Police Science and Criminal Justice Administration at John Jay College of Criminal Justice. At John Jay, Dr. Lerner taught graduate level courses in Criminology and Criminal Justice.
In 1978, Dr. Lerner decided to bring his expertise in criminology and security to the private sector and established EPIC Security Corp. His goal was to bring new ideas and solutions to the private sector as he had accomplished in public service. Those ideas brought new standards and values to the private security industry in New York and New Jersey.
Dr. Lerner has appeared many times as a crime and security expert on all the major networks and news publications. Recently, he appeared on ABC Channel 7 Eyewitness News "The Investigators" segment with Sarah Wallace.
ABC News said about him: "Mark Lerner is the CEO of EPIC Security, one of the largest and most reputable firms in the area."
Dr. Lerner was featured on a front cover story in Crain's New York Business shortly after 9/11 when it was indicated he "stepped up to the plate" to deal with the pressing security issues facing New York City after that tragic day.
Dr. Lerner was the subject of a one hour feature segment "The Private Police" on the A&E Network Investigative Reports
show with Bill Curtis. On that show, residents of a Greenwich Village neighborhood that hired EPIC reported a complete change in neighborhood lifestyle after EPIC security guards restored safe conditions to the streets of the neighborhood.
Today, Dr. Lerner continues to serve as the President and CEO of EPIC, where he continues to strive every day to raise the bar for the standards and practices of the private security industry.