Last updated on: 10/22/2009 | Author: ProCon.org

About Steven C. Markoff

Mr. Markoff is a native of Los Angeles, California. He graduated from Los Angeles City College in 1964 with an Associate Arts degree. His business affiliations and background includes serving as Chairman of A-Mark Financial Corporation, a Santa Monica-based financial services company he founded in 1965. In 2004 he helped found and is Co-Chair of A-Mark Entertainment, and he is a film producer.

Mr. Markoff’s non-business work has included:

1. Community/Public Service:

  • Gave a talk (10/27/04) “Let’s Talk About Lying,” at Woodbury University (Burbank, CA),
  • Gave a talk (3/24/04) “How to handle your attorney without losing your sleep, your mind and your bank account,” at Woodbury University (Burbank, CA),
  • Founder and Chairman, ProCon.org, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit public benefit corporation (founded on July 12, 2004) [Read a personal statement from Steve Markoff on the origins and background of ProCon.org],
  • A member of the Board of Directors of the non-profit ACLU Foundation of Southern California since 1979,
  • Member of the Washington, D.C.-based Federal Task Force on Judicial Selection (which issued its report “Judicial Selection” in the Fall of 1999),
  • A member of the Board of Directors of the UCLA Management Education Associates from 1986 to 1992,
  • Conducted two seminars on entrepreneurship at The Gorbachev Foundation (Moscow, Russia) – The International Foundation for Socio-Economic and Political Studies in October 1992,
  • A member of the Board of Directors of the non-profit UCLA Graduate School of Management, Board of Visitors, 1986.
  • A member of the Board of Directors of the non-profit Hollywood Community Hospital from 1982 to 1984 (when it was sold to a for-profit group).

2. Public Service Educational Websites:

  • ProCon.org; created July 2004; the site’s mission is to promote critical thinking, education and informed citizenship, setting forth pro and con arguments about important controversial issues.
  • Celtic Mirrors.org; founded July 2009; the site promotes the understanding of celtic mirrors.

3. Published Work:

  • Published between May 1997 and August 1998 four informational booklets examining different aspects of our nation’s drug policy: 

a. “State-by-State Marijuana Laws (as of Dec. 31, 1996)”;

b. “Addictiveness of Marijuana vs. Five Commonly Used Drugs”;

c. “Some of the Drugs America Takes”; and

d. “Marijuana’s Contribution to Preventable Deaths in the U.S. in 1990”.

  • “Making Firms Do It Your Way ,” a common sense contract between a client and his lawyer that was published in the national magazine The American Lawyer in December 1991.
  • January 1990, a summary of 563 ACLU cases in the U.S. Supreme court, titled “The Batting Average (and supporting data) of the ACLU in the U.S. Supreme Court” from January 19, 1920 through December 31, 1989. He then updated the Summary to 735 cases through December 31, 1999.
  • Through the Association of Media Accuracy, a nonprofit organization, co-founded in 1985 with Maury Weiner (Deputy Mayor under Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley), Mr. Markoff co-published the following reports in a Pro/Con format:

a. Should Chief Justice Rose Bird Be Re-confirmed in the Upcoming November 4, 1986 California Election?,” in September of 1986, and

b. How Practical is Nuclear Power for Our Future?” in May 1988.