Mark Klein
Baseball (1977-1979)
Two-time All-Skyway selection, Chiefs’ leader and team captain in 1979
All-Conference at Eastern Kentucky University and NCAA record-setter
Current CEO at Children’s Orthopedics of Atlanta, and former CEO of the N.E. Georgia Diagnostic Clinic and CFO of N.E. Georgia Physicians Group
The last two decades Mark Klein has been a leader in the medical field of the greater area of Atlanta, Georgia. But some of the skills he employs on a daily basis today were honed on the baseball field at Waubonsee, where he first learned to be a leader. Affectionately known by teammates and friends as “Bibs,” Klein excelled in the classroom and in three sports at Aurora East High School. He ran Cross Country in the fall, wrestled in the winter and played baseball in the spring. Klein ranked ninth academically in his class and earned the Tomcats Athlete of the Year award in 1977.
At Waubonsee Klein quickly became an integral part of the first Chiefs’ baseball team guided by current head coach Dave Randall in 1978. “Dave was a great mentor and I cherish the time I spent there at Waubonsee,” says Klein. As a freshman he led the team with a .338 batting average and was chosen All-Skyway Conference Honorable Mention. As a sophomore he batted .330, was named Second Team All-Skyway, and represented Waubonsee in the Junior College All-Star game. Klein also took on the leadership role of team captain, which in some ways led to where he is today. “Athletics is hard work, but its’ where many leaders are developed,” explains Klein.
In 1979 he completed his Associate’s degree in Accounting from Waubonsee with a 3.80 grade-point-average, and then moved on to Eastern Kentucky University. As the Colonels’ second baseman in 1980, Klein was half of a double play duo that set an NCAA record for most double plays turned in a season. His senior year he batted .370 and was named First Team All-Ohio Valley Conference. He graduated from Eastern Kentucky with a B. A. in Business Administration, finishing with a 3.6 GPA. “Athletics is the other part of a great college experience. Being part of a team, working with others, learning time management; those are all things that I still utilize today,” describes Klein.
Klein went to work as an accountant and later as Controller for Central Baptist Hospital in Lexington, Kentucky. He passed the CPA exam in 1984 and then worked five years for Smith-Klein Labs in Atlanta. Since 1990 he has held a variety of upper management positions with medical organizations in the Atlanta area, overseeing multi-million dollar enterprises. At each stop Klein has been responsible for the overall administration of facility, including accounting and finances, operations, human resources, marketing, strategic planning, and information technologies. He is currently the CEO for Children’s Orthopedics of Atlanta, where he held a similar role from 1990 to 1997. For a decade in between he was the CEO for the Northeast Georgia Diagnostic Clinic, and he was also the Chief Financial Officer for the Northeast Georgia Physicians Group. Klein and his wife Elizabeth live in the Atlanta suburb of Gainesville with their four boys, Andrew, Stephen, Benjamin and David. When he’s not rooting on the Green Bay Packers, he can be found on the golf course where he is often among the leaders there too, as he sports a 4-handicap on the links.