Mark E. Henderson, Ed. D was first elected by the citizens of Gardena in March 2015 to serve as a member of the City Council. He was elected a second term in March 2020, and elected a third term in March of 2024. Prior to his election as a Councilmember, he served the City of Gardena as an appointed member of the Planning and Environmental Quality Commission, from 2010 to 2013. As the past chairman (during 2012), he worked to be an effective leader of the Planning Commission and proactively collaborated with community members, City Council and city staff, exhibiting valuable insight into understanding the needs of the residents and businesses of the entire community. Before that appointment, he served as a Member-at-Large for the City of Gardena Rent Mediation Board. In that role he worked tirelessly to ensure that landlord and tenant discussions were civil, ended with both parties satisfied, and that the most appropriate measures were executed. He later became a community leader within the Gardena Environmental Justice Committee, whose primary purpose is to heighten community awareness regarding long-standing environmental issues and to create opportunities to develop and propose strategies to city officials and staff while maintaining open dialogue prior to the implementation of environmental land reuse policies.

Henderson was born in Harbor City, CA, and was raised in Los Angeles County. After completing his military service in the U.S. Navy, he obtained a Bachelor of Science degree in Telecommunications Management from DeVry University, a Master of Business Administration degree from the University of Redlands, and a Doctorate in Organizational Leadership from the University of La Verne. He is currently an administrator at Los Angeles Pierce College and has been with the Los Angeles Community College District since 2002. He has held previous leadership roles for municipalities in California. In 2014, the Center for Digital Education recognized him as a Top 30 Technologist, Transformer, and Trailblazer.

His Council responsibilities include representing the City of Gardena as a Delegate to the Independent Cities Association (current President). He also serves as an Alternate City Delegate to the Los Angeles Metro Mayors Roundtable, and the County of Los Angeles Sanitation District No. 5.
Additionally, Councilmember Henderson represents the cities of Hawthorne, Inglewood, and Gardena as their District 28 representative to the Southern California Association of Governments (SCAG).

With approximately 40 years as a resident of Gardena, Henderson has been actively involved in the life of our community. He was a past volunteer coach for City of Gardena youth sports activities. He is a city commissioner with the Gardena Pop Warner organization. He is the current President of a community-based organization named Brothers Inc., which works with middle school-aged African-American and Latino males in the disciplines of decision-making and critical thinking. He is a board member of PV Jobs Inc., which works to train community members and Veterans in obtaining employment within the Building Trades. He is very active in addressing Veteran’s concerns.

Henderson believes in placing the community first while developing success strategies in a collaborative manner with all stakeholders to improve our elite City.