HOUGHTON, N.Y.—Houghton College alumnus Mark Blasko returns to campus as guest executive at the monthly Guest Executive Dinner series sponsored by Houghton’s business department on Friday, March 9 at 5 p.m.

Blasko is the owner/general manager of Shirtmasters in New Hampshire, a business that essentially began when Blasko was in seventh grade. Blasko learned how to print shirts in a seventh grade art class. One day he stayed after school to print a shirt for himself with a ski graphic on it. The school ski club director saw the shirt and asked Blasko if he would make 50 shirts for the ski club.

While in college, Blasko continued his screen-printing business on the side. He became known as the “shirt guy” around the Houghton campus selling shirts to clubs, teams, organizations and the Campus Store. He graduated from Houghton in 1990 and began working in ski area management while continuing his T-shirt printing on the side.

Once the shirt printing business grew too big to ignore he officially opened Shirtmasters. Shirtmasters now employs 14 people and serves thousands of commercial customers nationwide. Blasko is now fulfilling a long-time dream of opening a first-class family entertainment facility.

The guest executive dinner will be held in the Lennox Dining Room in the Campus Center. Cost is $7 per person, which includes a buffet style meal. Reservations are requested and can be made by contacting Molly Spear at molly.spear@houghton.edu or at 585.567.9440.

Houghton’s Guest Executive Dinner series was created for the purpose of increasing student exposure to marketplace professionals from various fields and service opportunities to be both salt and light after college.