Mark Damian Duda is the founder and executive director of Responsive Management. His primary professional focus for the past 40 years has been on understanding the connection between people and nature through the use of social science research. A Certified Wildlife Biologist® and social scientist, Mark holds a master’s degree with an emphasis on natural resource policy and planning from Yale University, where he attended on two academic scholarships. 

Mark also holds a B.S. Magna Cum Laude in Wildlife Biology from West Virginia University and has taught at Yale, Texas Tech, and the University of Florida. In 2025, he received an honorary doctorate for “international preeminence in his field and sustained contributions to society” from West Virginia University.

As the executive director of Responsive Management for the past 35 years, Mark has employed more than 2,200 people and managed more than 1,200 studies on how people relate to the outdoors. He is the author of more than 200 journal and popular articles as well as four books on wildlife and outdoor recreation.

Prior to establishing Responsive Management, Mark worked as a wildlife biologist and human dimensions specialist for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. He also worked as a firefighter in Colorado with the U.S. Forest Service and as a fisheries technician with the National Marine Fisheries Service, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

His work has been featured in many of the nation’s top media, including NPR’s Morning Edition, Fox News, CNN, The New York Times, Newsweek, and the front pages of The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, and USA Today. For 7 years, he served as a columnist for North American Hunter and North American Fisherman magazines.

Mark has conducted research and provided data for every state fish and wildlife agency and every federal natural resource agency, including the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the National Marine Fisheries Service, the National Park Service, the U.S. Forest Service, the Bureau of Land Management, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and the U.S. Coast Guard. Additionally, he has provided research for all the major conservation NGOs including the Archery Trade Association, the American Sportfishing Association, the Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies, Ducks Unlimited, the Hunters’ Leadership Forum, the Izaak Walton League of America, the National Shooting Sports Foundation, the National Wildlife Federation, the Recreational Boating and Fishing Foundation, the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, Safari Club International, the Sierra Club, The Nature Conservancy, Trout Unlimited, and the Wildlife Management Institute.

Other nonprofit and NGO clients include the American Museum of Natural History, the BoatUS Foundation, the National Association of Conservation Law Enforcement Chiefs, the National Association of State Boating Law Administrators, and the Ocean Conservancy. As well, Mark and Responsive Management conducts market research and product testing for numerous outdoor recreation manufacturers and industry leaders, such as Winchester Ammunition, Vista Outdoor (whose brands include Federal Premium, CamelBak, Bushnell, Primos, and more), Trijicon, Yamaha, and others.

Mark has provided research for top universities, including Auburn University, Boise State University, Cal Poly, Clemson University, Colorado State University, Cornell University, Duke University, George Mason University, Michigan State University, Mississippi State University, North Carolina State University, Oregon State University, Penn State University, Rutgers University, Stanford University, State University of New York, Texas Tech, University of Alaska, University of California-Davis, University of California-San Diego, University of Connecticut, University of Florida, University of Hawaiʻi, University of Montana, University of New Hampshire, University of Southern California, Virginia Commonwealth University, Virginia Tech, West Virginia University, Yale University, and many more.

Mark has been a keynote or opening session speaker at almost all of the major wildlife and natural resources conferences, including the North American Wildlife and Natural Resources Conference, Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies Annual Meeting, Southeastern Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies Annual Conference, Northeast Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies Annual Conference, Western Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies Annual Conference, Congressional Sportsmen’s Foundation National Assembly of Sportsmen’s Caucuses Sportsman-Legislator Summit, Southeast Deer Study Group Annual Meeting, National Shooting Sports Foundation’s Shooting Sports Summit, National Association of Conservation Law Enforcement Chiefs Annual Meeting, and the Council to Advance Hunting and the Shooting Sports National R3 Symposium. He has also presented at nearly all the state fish and wildlife agencies’ commissions and boards.

Mark has been named Conservation Educator of the Year by the Florida Wildlife Federation and National Wildlife Federation, was a recipient of the Conservation Achievement Award from the Western Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies, and was named Wildlife Professional of the Year by the Virginia Wildlife Society. He also received the Conservation Achievement Award in Communications from Ducks Unlimited and an award from the Potomac Ducks Unlimited Chapter for his contributions as a researcher and writer. Mark was also honored as Qualitative Researcher of the Year by the National Shooting Sports Foundation and received the Distinguished Leadership Award from the Hunters’ Leadership Forum. 

Mark is an avid birder, angler, boater, sport shooter, and hunter.