Mark Kovacs, PhD, CSCS, *D, is a human performance expert who combines his academic, scientific, and training backgrounds in the fields of fitness, health, wellness, nutrition, sports, and performance. He is the chief executive officer of the Kovacs Institute, a science-based institute focused on optimizing human performance, and the executive director of the International Tennis Performance Association. He was formerly the director of the Gatorade Sport Science Institute and an executive in research and innovation with Pepsico.
Kovacs was as an All-American and NCAA champion tennis athlete and directed the sport science, strength and conditioning, and coaching education departments for the United States Tennis Association. He has been involved in elite-level tennis for more than 20 years and provided services to dozens of high-performing companies, teams, and leagues, including U.S. Soccer, the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP), Women’s Tennis Association (WTA), and the International Tennis Federation (ITF). He is a fellow of the American College of Sports Medicine and was the 2011 recipient of the Educational Merit Award from the International Tennis Hall of Fame. Kovacs received a doctorate in exercise physiology from the University of Alabama.