Outstanding Alumni - 2008
Lieutenant Colonel Mark Backlin
Bemidji State University Graduate 1978 
Lt Col Mark Backlin entered the U.S. Air Force after graduating from Bemidji State with a degree in elementary education and music. He spent 20 years in the Air Force, retiring as a Lieutenant Colonel in 1999. After completing Officer's Training School in San Antonio, Texas, Backlin served as a management analyst, Chief of the Space Operations Branch and Chief of the Wartime Plans Branch at Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado Springs. He also worked for the Joint Chief of Staff, under then General Colin Powell, managing policy issues at the Pentagon, with responsibilities over national defense missions in Europe and space, affecting one million persons with a total payroll of $30 billion. Following his retirement in 1999, Backlin entered the appraisal field, working for Global Valuation Services and Lincoln and Associates, one of the largest appraisal companies in Colorado, as a marketing analyst. He returned to the military for two years beginning in 2005, acting as a consultant for the 21st Space Wing of the Air Force Space Command in Colorado Springs, Colorado, where he outsourced government organizations into the private sector. He now serves as President of the Judith Lombeida Medical Foundation, which he created to honor his wife who died in a family car accident in 2006. The Foundation performs clinical and surgical medical missions into Ecuador, South America to help the poorest citizens, a responsibility she performed while on active duty in the Air Force. In the last 14 months, his foundation has treated over 5,500 patients across Ecuador. Lt Col Backlin is also a composer and has produced two CD's of his original piano compositions. Lt Col Backlin has two grown children, Laura and David, and continues to reside in Colorado Springs, Colorado.