Mark Nottingham is on a journey of intentionality. He’s a busy man turning an important corner as the co-owner of five businesses, a husband with four children ages 3 to 12, and deep ties to a local church, two brothers, and several civic organizations.
At the end of 2026, he’s going to hit reset; it’s a thing he’s been gradually planning for some time now. He will wrap up remaining board assignments, civic duties, and church responsibilities, pack up a camper van, and start the year by taking Sarah, his wife, and their four homeschooled children on a three-month tour of the United States.
Whatever is next for Mark, he is not about to withdraw from life and become a travelling hermit. His values for life, relationships, and creating community run too deep for that. The ways God has wired him, the experiences he’s had - all these things point to more life and more good for Indianapolis as 2028 unfolds.
“I’ve been pretty good at saying ‘yes’ to things,” he says of his career, and as early as five years ago, he realized he had overdone it.
“At the time, we had three kids, I ran a couple of businesses, was in lay leadership at church, and was very involved in our kids’ lives, several boards, and a couple of community initiatives.” That list included Habitat for Humanity, Hope International, Young Life, Herron School, New Hope Counseling Center, the local Board of Realtors and his own businesses.
“I loved them all, but hadn’t been strategic as I would have liked to have been,” he says.
So 2027 has been very strategically planned as a year where he leaves his businesses in the capable hands of “an amazing team of partners and co-workers,” and begins a sabbatical. “I truly believe it will be a great season for the company where I will get out of the way and the capable people we have will be freed up to do things the way they see them, which is likely better than the way I see them,” he says.
And then …?
“I don’t know what’s next,” he says simply.
Mark is the founder and co-owner of @properties Indianapolis, (a real estate brokerage), Foundry Provisions (a coffee shop in the Herron Morton neighborhood where the Nottingham’s also live), an innovative car dealership called MATS (mats.org/history/), Nottingham Properties (real estate investment company that purchases and rehabs residential and boutique commercial properties), and Full Circle Development (real estate investment fund focused on the renovation of distressed single family homes in Center Township of Marion County).
All five are co-owned with his brother, Josh, and they have been in business together since 2007, building on mutual trust, similar values for family and community, and a desire to expand their horizons as well as their risk through diversifying from their original roots in the auto industry.
The two also have a tight bond with a third brother, Jeff, who is a pastor in Indianapolis.
With roots in Richmond, Indiana, the three are grandsons of an entrepreneurial grandfather who started The Nottingham Group in 1964, primarily doing business as the Ford Dealership there. Then their father took over in the late ‘70s, adding Chrysler and Chevrolet dealerships to the company’s operations until his retirement in 2007. Their mother was a high school English teacher who matriculated through motherhood into being the teaching leader for their local Bible Study Fellowship - shoes she filled for more than three decades.
“Entrepreneurship and faith are what I knew of vocation,” says Mark. “Our parents modeled for us that work wasn’t just a thing you started and a finished each day. It mattered; it was important in what it could create and how it could impact the community.”
He draws some of his own philosophy from watching his Dad model that business and community have to succeed together. His father would serve on the boards of the local Chamber of Commerce, Boys and Girls Club, and economic development organization and say, “It’s just something a business owner should do.”
Although he started to college certain he wanted to become a golf pro, somewhere along his path at Penn State (where there was a great golf program), he became convinced he didn’t fit that industry very well, and a business degree became his focus. But while completing his B.S. in Management there, he became very active in Young Life, ultimately serving that organization on staff in West Lafayette, Indiana for his first four years out of college.
“It was a great experience,” he says, and one that also opened the doors to pursue a graduate degree in theology. Ultimately, he received a Masters of Arts from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Chicago in 2008, the same year that he and Sarah married. The two had been friends in high school and reconnected seven years later while he was in West Lafayette and after she returned to the states from working for Campus Crusade in Argentina.
He believed ministry was his destination until a conversation with a good friend challenged him to look at how small business owners can also impact the world for good. With Sarah moving to Indianapolis to attend nurse midwife school at IUPUI, he followed and began casting around for an industry that would fill his desire to use his people skills as well as to impact the world around him. Real estate fit that bill, although he discovered that buying or selling houses was not what energized him most, it was helping people achieve big, life-changing goals.
“And I’m even more inclined to help peers get better at helping others buy a house,” he says, “so now I train and support other Realtors -- helping people who are helping people,” he says.
His wiring helps him think quickly on his feet. “I truly enjoy working with people and finding ways I can help them utilize their skillsets for their thriving,” he says, “it’s like human development coaching...seeing the potential in a person and situation. I have a way of envisioning what’s possible and influencing others toward that.”
Across the years, other business owners have had a big impact on him. In particular, one he considers a mentor, Don Palmer, has helped him think about how to view his role more intentionally.
“It’s not like I wake up on a daily basis and have margin to think about community involvement. You have to build in intentional voices,” says Mark. “So four or five times a year I eat lunch with Don, and rethink my engagement with community with a sense of conviction. He leads by example and asks good questions. I realize I will impact Indy whether I want to or not; the question is, “in what way?”
MARK’S IDEAS FOR A BETTER INDY
- UNDERSTAND YOUR OWN WIRING AND USE IT TO BLESS OTHERS: I thrive on this combo of enjoying people and seeing the opportunity or potential in things. I love having been some small part of another person’s success. Then our success is joint and I find a lot of joy in that.
- LEARN TO MAINTAIN A BALANCE: Community is so critical. I would have no chance of maintaining balance were it not for community like my brothers and my incredible, super supportive wife. And my church community has played a critical role for 18 years, Redeemer Presbyterian, supporting us in a lot of ways and continues to be a key part of our life. We love our neighborhood and Indy. I’m biased, but we think it’s a great place.
- DON’T GO IT ALONE: Seek out partners and not necessarily just business partners. I haven’t found a lot of success in doing things by myself. Find people who will encourage you and push when necessary; people you trust enough to have conflict with - that has been rewarding and fruitful. In my opinion, partnerships break down silos and are part of what make Indianapolis so successful.
MARK NOTTINGHAM TRIVIA
Favorite hobby besides work: Golf, with Broadmoor being his local favorite
Go to snack & beverage Pretzels and iced tea
Favorite local restaurant: Livery
Favorite places for a vacation: Someplace warm, like the desert of Arizona
Secret Dream: Visiting at least half the countries in the world with my wife
Please reach out and connect with Mark at mark@atpropertiesind.com.
