About Us
Lowering Barriers to Inventing, Creating, Manufacturing, and Entrepreneurship
Make.Work is a shared manufacturing facility in Gainesville, Florida.
We are dedicated to invigorating the regional manufacturing and startup economy by lowering barriers to production equipment, personnel training, and keeping jobs and production in the U.S. rather than subcontracting them overseas.
We work with community leaders and investors to provide mentoring opportunities, business and community engagement, collaborative innovation, marketing expertise, and capital funding support.
How We Help
Make.Work develops and educates growing companies and individual entrepreneurs in a variety of skills to develop their knowledge and advance their growth of an idea or career.
The Make.Work membership community provides opportunities for small business and employment development through:
Teaching and assistance with applied advanced modern manufacturing processes on real products and equipment
Providing an understanding of foundational business management techniques
Developing individual real world leadership skills
Who We Are
Mark Davidson founded Make.Work to help inventors act on their ideas.
As a faculty member and researcher at the University of Florida, Mark saw that many people with good ideas were unsuccessful in bringing those ideas to market due to costs, the necessity for overseas manufacturing, and lack of access to funds.
In 2013, he left the University and started The Tech Toybox, a non-profit dedicated to empowering young entrepreneurs and teaching them how to make their ideas work and get prototypes created. As the program became more successful, Mark identified a need for affordable manufacturing so that these new companies could get their products to market, while also creating middle class manufacturing jobs in North Florida.
Make.Work was born out of that need.
We provide the capacity for manufacturing ‘small runs’ in our 27,000 square-foot facility with accessory buildings for shipping and inventory storage. Companies can become members of Make.Workand share access to manufacturing facilities with other early stage companies.
Our team also recruits and trains the talent needed for manufacturing operations through our apprentice program. This allows us to create manufacturing jobs and train people to fill them. This can help rebuild America’s manufacturing base. This grows jobs and lowers a significant barrier to companies manufacturing their products.
Meet the Team
Mark Davidson
Co-Founder and Partner
Mark Davidson is a Co-Founder and Partner of Make.Work. His passion is building cool stuff and teaching others to do the same. He primarily focuses on guiding the overall vision of the entrepreneurial community to “make it all work” for the individuals who are members of it. An entrepreneur himself, Mark has been granted over 80 patents. He’s constantly tinkering and is known for his ability to get ideas or projects ‘unstuck’ with his input, knowledge and experience.
Mark graduated from the University of Florida and successfully received a Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering. He spent 25+ years serving there as a faculty member and researcher. While at UF, he directed the operations of the MicroFabritech research center and has more than 100 publication credits for work in engineering research and development.
Mark has successfully launched several startups and has consulted extensively with companies of all sizes to assist with product development and manufacturing. He also founded The Tech Toybox, a non-profit that runs training and community classes, guides individual creators and companies through the prototyping stage to bring their ideas to reality, while using the platforms as a training tool for a wide variety of interns and students.
Keith Spencer
Co-Founder and Partner
Keith is a Co-founder and Partner of Make.Work. In his senior leadership role, he coordinates all the various parts of the community operations. Keith’s oversight of the overall business is critical to maintaining the organization’s growth while overseeing effective delivery of high-quality services and guiding stable, resilient financial performance.
Keith’s interest in building companies to become successful combined with his 40+ years of experience in senior management of large technical construction projects offers crucial leadership to Make.Work community members.
In addition, Keith manages the Studio Area, where fine artists and industrial makers can casually gather to share ideas and collaborate on design and construction of creative projects. The Studio Area includes space for artistic exhibitions and education, fulfilling Keith’s personal passion as a working artist.
Jean Tokarz
Partner
Jean is a Partner with Make.Work. She oversees the entire operation of the membership and all the services of the community to help each individual and business realize success. She is a highly dedicated and technical individual who knows what it takes to start and grow a startup business into a successful company.
Jean’s background in manufacturing gives her understanding and skills in process development, standardization, and quality control of new technologies and manufacturing. Her work with high-tech startups and entrepreneurial programs gave her experience and creative skills in developing and implementing new technologies. In her previous career assignments, Jean has accumulated a wealth of knowledge in product development, business management, and overall manufacturing administration.
Jean has developed training programs for internships and formal certified apprenticeships, and she knows how to create working prototypes. She holds a Materials Science degree from the University of Florida, has published in industry journals, and has filed for invention patents.