TorokLaw Consulting

Our principal, Mark Torok, has degrees in Economics and a Juris Doctor (Law) and over 40 years of experience in a variety of industries in senior positions. He has earned the CPCU and ARe insurance designations, as well as FINRA licenses series 7, 24 and 63.  He has been inside counsel to a number of companies as well as General Counsel, Chief Operating Officer, and CEOs of both start-ups and established companies, ranging in size from startup up to $236 billion in assets and $3.9 billion in annual revenue. He has been employed by USAA, Erie Insurance Group, Argonaut Insurance Group and Hartman Income REIT, as well as stints in private practice.

Mr. Torok has extensive securities law experience from a company perspective, having been lead inside counsel on various SEC registrations and exchange listings.  He is well versed in SEC filing requirements and financial statement reporting.

He has also published a legal treatise co-authored with his son (also a lawyer), “What Happened to the American Dream-An Analysis of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act and Its Effect on Home Ownership”, 17 THE SCHOLAR (2015) (Available at: https://commons.stmarytx.edu/thescholar/vol17/iss1/34).  In addition, he is one of the contributing authors of the Amazon Bestseller, Protect and Defend-Proven Strategies to help you protect and defend your business, family and wealth 2015 Celebrity Press, ISB#: 9780985364311. While still in law school, Mr. Torok wrote a meritorious (2^nd place) paper for the Nathan Burkan Memorial Scholarship Contest on copyright law in the U.S.

In addition to his work as an attorney and in business, he has appeared on ABC, NBC, CBS and Fox television channels as a “New Master of Real Estate”.

Mr. Torok lives in Houston, Texas with his wife of 46 years and has 3 grown children and 4 grandchildren.

By combining degrees in Economics and Law, we are uniquely positioned to provide multi-faceted solutions and strategies to businesses both nationally and internationally.  We believe that each business has its own unique characteristics, strategies, personnel, constituencies, markets, suppliers, vision, mission and problems that require consideration of multiple factors to design a solution or strategy to maximize the business’ potential. We are experts in taking complex problems and issues and reducing them to their pertinent relevant characteristics and applying those to best-in-class practices. 

We begin with interviews of particular senior executives and key board members to get a sense of the issues facing each company.  After we have a sense of the issues we are facing, we develop a plan of attack to come up with solutions to the issues, including repeatable processes and procedures to maximize revenue and profits for the benefit of the business, the employees, directors and officers, clients and customers, shareholders and other constituents.   At that point we develop a fee agreement and, if the client chooses to move forward after a complete understanding of the fee agreement, we begin the process to determine several alternative solutions.  It is only after the scope and extent of our participation and fee structure is understood and executed between us and the stakeholders, is a fee due.  We don’t charge fees for determining if we will undertake a project, nor do we bill by the hour, to avoid any incentives for overworking an issue.  We use a menu-based fee structure, so the client understands the exact amounts of our fees for services that the client desires to utilize. In short, no fees are charged for initial determinations and fees ae based on previously determined parameters.

• Commercial Real Estate (office buildings, light industrial, data centers, retail strip centers)
• Residential real Estate (single family and multi-units)
• Self Storage
• Property and Casualty Insurance
• Business to Business
• Retail to Customers

+ Serve as Independent Director

+ Advise Boards and Senior Executives on strategy, responsibilities, duties and legal compliance requirements

+ Develop strategic plans for company repositioning or pivoting to new directions

+ Turnaround situations

+ Business windups or closures

+ Startups and established businesses

Mark T. Torok

11530 Meadow Lake Dr.

Houston TX 77077

mark@toroklaw.com

361.236.0814

• Overview
• Strategic, practical, solution-oriented team player, with a highly developed ability to deconstruct complex issues and determine practical, real-world solutions.
• Expert level subject matter knowledge in property and casualty insurance, commercial real estate, securities, SEC, compliance, board of director processes and procedures, duties and responsibilities, and corporate governance.
• Over 40 years of legal, regulatory, compliance (property casualty insurance, FINRA and SEC), securities, registered companies, alternative investments, fund and investment vehicle formation and governance, supervisory, insurance, real estate and corporate operational experience

• Employment

• CEO, COO, General Counsel, Silver Star Properties REIT, Inc. (f/k/a Hartman Income REIT and affiliates) $750 million in real estate holdings. Progressively increasing responsibilities. Began as securities counsel, became General Counsel, became Chief Operating Officer and then ultimately Chief Executive Officer. Responsible for all legal issues; board minutes, director advice, education and board communications, director duties and responsibilities, compliance, financial reporting, SEC compliance, operations and strategic direction, profitability and competitiveness. Led company with 150 employees and approximately $90 million in annual revenue.  Appointed CEO in 2023 to determine the future path of the company and devised a strategic plan to sell existing properties and move into other, more cost-effective and lucrative projects.

• CEO, Director and Founder of Southern Star Self Storage Investment Company, a company that created 5 Delaware Statutory Trusts, raised over $20M (and secured $20M in CMBS loans with Citibank) to purchase 10 self-storage properties; managed and improved facilities, all accomplished in approximately 18 months, until the company was purchased by a third party.

• Director of Regulatory Compliance -USAA/Assistant General Counsel/ Assistant Secretary property and casualty insurance companies and subsidiaries. Responsible for subsidiaries’ minutes and board meetings.  Responsible for maintaining relationships with various regulators and addressing market conduct audits, regulatory complaints and other compliance matters. Supervised staff of 12 for rate and policy filings in all 50 states. Responsible for maintaining high standards of conduct, legal and regulatory compliance in all aspects of the property/casualty insurance companies.

• Assistant General Counsel-Chief Compliance Officer- Argonaut Insurance Group. Developed compliance programs for Sarbanes-Oxley.  Oversaw day-to-day operational compliance. Maintained corporate records.  Maintained relationships with regulatory bodies (SEC and state securities regulators) as well as all 50-state Insurance regulators. 2^nd in command for legal issues.

• Assistant General Counsel and Assistant Secretary-Erie Insurance Group. Responsible for general legal matters and regulatory compliance. Was in-house counsel that prepared the SEC registration statement for Erie Indemnity Company when it had reached 500 shareholders. Successfully listed the company on NASDAQ. Responsible for minutes and board communication and compliance.

• Publications
• Contributing Author- Protect and Defend, Celebrity Press, Amazon Bests Seller, 2012
• Nathan M. Torok & Mark T. Torok, What Happened to the American Dream? An Analysis of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act and its Effect on Home Ownership, The Scholar: St. Mary’s Law Review on Race and Social Justice, Volume 17, page 95 (2014)

• Education and Certifications
• B.A. Economics with Honors, Gettysburg College
• Juris Doctor, Willamette University College of Law
• Licensed to practice law in Texas; previously licensed to practice law in Pennsylvania (emeritus status) and Washington State
• Chartered Property Casualty Underwriter (CPCU)
• Associate in Reinsurance (ARe)
• FINRA 7, 24, 63 licenses (currently inactive)

• Personal

• Married 46 years; three adult children graduating Magna Cum Laude or better from Texas Tech, Texas State and University of the Incarnate Word) and each having advanced degrees (Law from St Mary’s Law School, Master’s in Psychology from Texas State and  Masters in Sports Management from the University of Texas-Austin). Hobbies include: hunting and fishing, golf, baseball, football, lacrosse, wooden boat building. Member Church Unlimited, Corpus Christi TX. Member Oso Naval Lodge # 1282 AF&AM, Al Amine Shriners, Corpus Christi, TX