Experience and Approach

Mary offers her clients a unique blend of management experience and insights into executive development and behavioral change.  She specializes in helping senior executives, high-potential managers and their teams create positive, sustainable change in performance.  With more than 20 years of experience in major corporations such as Kraft, Inc., and S.C. Johnson & Son, Inc., Mary has seen firsthand the profound impact of leadership on business success and employee engagement.  Her informed and pragmatic approach to coaching grows out of her work as a business leader.  Her line management experience as marketing director in the United States and Latin America helps her relate to the realities of her client’s day-to-day experiences.  Her history as an owner and operator of her family’s manufacturing company and experience as a board member bring depth to understanding the challenges of leading an organization. 

Mary’s commitment to this work comes from a belief that good leadership makes a positive difference in people’s lives and in bottom-line business results.  Mary engages in a dialogue with a client that creates insight about what makes them successful and articulates what gets in their way.  She then partners with a client to create a plan for sustainable change in their leadership; to more fully leverage abilities and develop new skills to increase effectiveness and fulfillment.  Mary has a way of inviting her clients into this work that deeply engages them and helps them maintain accountability to change. 

Education and Certifications

Mary has a Master of Business Administration from the University of Chicago as well as a Master of Arts in Counseling Psychology from Northwestern University.   She has served as a coach and leader in the Next Generation Leadership Institute at the Loyola Family Business Center, a coach for the Northwestern University Kellogg School of Management and a Hogan Assessment network coach.  She has delivered workshops and presentations on leadership to The Conference Board, The Society for Industrial Organizational Psychologists and numerous corporate audiences. 

Why Do I Do This Work?

“Helping leaders be highly effective and fulfilled is my mission.  The challenge of being a versatile leader who can deliver business results and create a positive environment for people has always intrigued me.  Bringing insight and resources in a safe confidential space is fulfilling and my goal is to add value for the individual and the organization that they lead.”