Mark Underwood is a native of Colorado. He grew up in the world famous potato-growing San Luis Valley. Growing potatoes was not his thing, so he moved to Denver to complete an EE degree at Denver University. In the 1970s, he joined the Navy. That turned out not to be the big adventure they advertised, but since the economy was close to dead, he decided to stick it out. He convinced the Admirals that MIT was a good duty station, and they obliged, sending him for three years of instruction that earned him two engineering and naval architecture degrees. He also earned his Professional Engineers license. Over the next twenty years, he specialized in submarine overhaul and design, but fell victim to the military downsizing in the mid-1990s. So, he collected his retirement, settled into the Puget Sound area, and over the next three years, slowly eased into the home inspection business