Mark Downing
道马克
SEO & LLM Answer Engines
Marketplaces & eCommerce
Sinologist
+ armchair anthropologist, eschatologist & cosmologist
Toronto, Canada
Expertise
SEO
Recognized thought-leader:
Industry speaker
- TFM&A Beijing: eCommerce Panel (2011)
- SES Shanghai:
- Keynote (2012)
- Omnichannel eCommerce (2013)
- SES Toronto: International SEO (2013)
- DigiMarcon Canada: C-Suite Benchmarking & China as a eCommerce Vanguard (2024)
Awards
- Dell departmental “Game Changer Award” (2024) for novel competitive executive Market Share benchmarking reports
- “Best Global SEO” 2024 Searchie award, Conductor
- Several Dell departmental “Silver” Awards; one for developing a company-wide SEO Certification program (2015)
GenAI & LLM Answer Engines
Have been following Artificial Neural Networks Machine Learning/Artificial Intelligence since I had asked Prof. Geoffrey Hinton—the “Godfather of AI” and now Nobel Laureate—for help on a paper back when I was in grad school, around the time that Google was created
eCommerce
Beyond professional work experience, I have been selling stuff online since 1999
Strategy & Consulting
While at Big Blue and a boutique consulting firm
Work Experience
Dell
SEO Management
Deep global experience in eCommerce & SEO
Spent most of this time in China, supporting Asia-Pacific
eBay
Marketplace Management
Grew the giant Collectibles categories, partnering with Crown Corporations, major museums, leading trade shows & top auctioneers
IBM
Web Consulting
Web strategies, competitive & usability assessments. Analyzed nascent industry market exchanges for the Watson Research Center. Also researched site search options for retailer HBC
Technology Solutions Canada
Boutique IT Consulting
Performed business case and cost-benefit analyses to integrate voice recognition systems into Big Banks & Big Rail
General Motors
MBA Internship
Architected the logic tying vehicle servicing to appropriately certified GM technicians to save millions on warranty repairs a year
Vicarb Inc.
Applications Engineer
Designed industrial heat exchangers for major clients such as Imperial Oil, Magna, GM & Chrysler
Education
M.B.A.
University of Toronto & HKUST
Rotman School of Management
+ Generative AI for Business: Driving Growth and Competitive Advantage
Ongoing university affiliation:
Regularly attend engineering & business school events, seminars, networking sessions, book launches & debates about management, politics, AI, science & economics.
Member of the Creative Destruction Lab’s Reading Group, currently focused on AI.
Languages
Passions
Astronomy
Royal Astronomical Society of Canada member
Space Place Canada Toronto Planetarium advisor
Telescope enthusiast
Training
Average 6 hours/week of MMA (Muay Thai & BJJ) & weight training with coaches
Scuba Diving
PADI Advanced
PADI Enriched Air (Nitrox)
Memorable dives:
- Dahab
- Koh Tao
- Ambergris Caye’s Blue Hole
- North Malé Atoll
- Roatan
- Borocay
Anthropological & Palaeoanthropological Highlights:
Jane Goodall
Met in Beijing
Gombe Chimpanzees
Met the decendents of the chimpanzees Goodall had named instead of numbered
Olduvai Gorge
“The Cradle of Humankind”
In undergrad, I dropped in on his son, Richard, guest lecturing at the University of Toronto about the in-tandem evolution of tool usage and language (Broca’s area, FOXP2 gene).
Dian Fossey
Mountain Gorillas
Learning & Addictions
Magazine Subscriptions
- L’actualité
- Archaeology
- BBC Music Magazine
- Diver
- The Economist
- Foreign Affairs
- Opera Canada
- Scientific American
- Scuba Diver
- Sky & Telescope
- World Archaeology
Performance Subscriptions
Canadian Opera Company
Toronto Symphony Orchestra
Post-pandemic:
The Great Courses Plus Subscription
Several dozen courses:
- Astronomy
- Astrophysics
- Biochemistry
- Cosmology
- Geology
- Gross Anatomy
- Meteorology
- Modern Electronics
- Molecular Biology
- Multivariable Calculus
- Opera
- Palaeontology
- Physics (Classical, Quantum & Nuclear)
- Radio Astronomy
Online University Courses
Human Behavioral Biology
Prof. Robert Sapolsky
Cosmology
Prof. Leonard Susskind
Virology
Prof. Vincent Racaniello
Culinary Arts
Culinary Arts Certificate from George Brown College
23 Continuing Education courses
Highlights:
- Advanced French
- Japanese
- BBQ Style
- WSET 1 Beer
- WSET 2 Wines
- WSET 3 Wines (current)
Plus a bunch of Coursera courses in Machine Learning, Prompt Engineering & PowerBI.
