Mark Koltko-Rivera

1956: Born in Greenwich Village, Manhattan, New York City.

1974: Graduated Regis High School, New York City. Entered Haverford College, from which I later graduated with a bachelor's degree in psychology.

1975: Baptized into The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (a.k.a. "the Mormons").

1978-1980: Served as a Latter-day Saint missionary in the Japan Okayama Mission. Spent 8 months teaching in Hiroshima.

1981-1982: Worked as consultant to CFO of Time Equities, Inc., the parent company of Sanford J. Greenburger Associates, the literary agency.

1982-1983: Worked as a marketing manager for New York office of Konpyutaa Saabisu Kabushiki Kaisha (CSK, headquartered in Tokyo).

1982-1988: Four children born, in first marriage (which later ended in divorce).

1983-1989: Worked in the management information systems (IT) department in the New York office of Ogilvy & Mather, Advertising.

1984: Graduated from Fordham University (M.S., counseling). Began independent practice as a psychotherapist (concluded 2000).

1994-1995: On staff of the psychology department at Manhattan Psychiatric Center, the psychiatric hospital of last resort for Manhattan.

1996-1997: Predoctoral psychology intern at the outpatient psychology clinic Lutheran Medical Center.

2000: Married to Kathleen Schmid in New York City.

2000: Graduated from New York University (Ph.D., counseling psychology)

2000-2008: Conducted psychological research while residing in Florida.

2006: Became a Freemason, in Winter Park Lodge #239, F&AM (Florida). [Yes, one can be both a Latter-day Saint and a Freemason. The Mormon faith is a religion, but Freemasonry is a fraternity.]

2006: Elected a Fellow of the American Psychological Association for my scholarly work.

2008: Returned to New York City just in time for the Wall Street crash in September.

2009: Commenced blogging. Began to make "talking head expert" appearances on television.

2011: Published first book, Freemasonry: An Introduction (Tarcher/​Penguin). Published three short stories in online literary journals.

My platform consists of television, online, and in-person planks.

Television

I regularly appear on television as a subject expert regarding various esoteric traditions, such as Freemasonry; I also appear as “the voice of reason” in televised discussions of conspiracy theories. In these connections, since Fall 2009 I have appeared on one stand-alone special (Hunting the Lost Symbol, Discovery Channel), and on episodes of four ongoing series, including Brad Melzer’s Decoded, Ancient Aliens, and the forthcoming America’s Book of Secrets, all on History Channel, and Syfy’s forthcoming Culture Shock with Tommy Lee. (Yes, that Tommy Lee.)

Online

I have just been appointed as a topical “beat writer” for the Yahoo Contributor Network. I now may submit one to three pieces on religion daily, for same-day distribution on the Yahoo news portal. Prior to this appointment, my occasional opinion pieces on the Yahoo portal received a cumulative total of 14,943 page views (Aug. 2-Dec. 27, 2011). Because I tend to address controversial topics in my pieces, I anticipate that my name will become even better known on the Internet in coming months. I have an online Klout score of 45 out of 100 (as of January 4, 2012; the average Klout score is 20); I expect that this will rise in coming months.

A Masonic organization (the Worldwide Exemplification of Freemasonry, or WEOF) invited me to present an hour-long audiovisual podcast regarding the relationship of the LDS temple ceremonies to the Masonic rituals of initiation. From August 20th to December 31st, 2011, the original and archived podcast was viewed 17,923 times by viewers in 90 countries.

I write blogs on a variety of issues (see the Works tab above). My major blogs have had a total of 105,344 page views since I began blogging in June 2009, through December 29, 2011.)

In-Person

During 2011, I made presentations before 5 Masonic local and regional bodies. I anticipate making at least as many presentations in 2012.