STAR OF BROOKLYN: Mark Bramante

Community Involvement: Mark Bramante has been an active member of the community, particularly in education, beginning with involvement in the PTA. Now Vice President of Community Education Council (CEC) 20, Bramante says it was a natural transition from his roles as a member of the school leadership team at P.S. 204 and the district leadership team.

After his children went to high school at Xaverian and Bishop Kearney, finishing with public school, Mark says he could have walked away, but he didn’t.

“I really believe in public education and I do believe our district is a great district,” he explains. “For the most part, I don’t want to fix things, I do, however, want to make sure it stays as great as it has been and be ready for future challenges.” Bramante – who was appointed to the CEC by Borough President Marty Markowitz — is also chair of the CEC’s zoning committee.

Career: A Brooklyn native, Bramante attended Edward R. Murrow High School, was a finance major at Baruch College, and studied at NYU for his law degree. Bramante worked at a law firm on Wall Street, then went on to do bank regulatory and financial transaction law, and in 1992 started working for Fuji Mizujo Corporate Bank.

After working there for almost 20 years doing derivative transactions and financial managerial work, Bramante transferred to the DTCC (The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation), taking care of international regulatory outreach in the derivative aspect of the business.

Personal: Bramante is a WTC survivor, as well as a Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia survivor. Bramante was diagnosed six weeks after 9/11, and went into remission eight years later.

Bramante and his family are very involved in Relay for Life and he is an active member of the American Cancer Society as well. Bramante has three children, Matthew, a junior at Xaverian, Stephanie, a sophomore at Manhattan College, and his oldest, Christa, who is enrolled in Brooklyn for her Master’s in Education.

Bramante calls his wife GraceAnne supermom; she is a fellow Relay for Life committee member.

Biggest Accomplishment: Bramante believes being a dad is his biggest accomplishment. “Raising good kids, that’s my best accomplishment,” he says. “It was tough and was hard work and being a dad takes more than hard work.”