Mary MacPherson is an executive with backgrounds in corporate and nonprofit organizations, expertise in the role of entrepreneurship and early stage company formation and growth, and in nonprofit organizational capacity building and governance. During her business career, Mary worked in senior management roles at Apple Computer, MCI Telecommunications Corp. (now Verizon), Blackboard, Inc. and startups in the Washington DC area.

Mary served for five years as Executive Director of Netpreneur, an initiative of the Morino Institute, where she provided leadership and overall responsibility for the Morino Institute’s programs, activities and representation in entrepreneurship.

In 2004, Mary formed M2Works LLC, an independent consultancy in Reston, Virginia. Her practice includes work in the areas of entrepreneurship, non-profit capacity building, sustainability, governance and network and community building. She recently served as Managing Director of Martlet Strategies, working to build impactful partnerships between the federal government and regional stakeholders to foster economic growth and diversification and regional ecosystems. She has worked with Vital Voices Global Partnership to support a network of businesswomen’s organizations in the of Middle East and North Africa.

Mary currently serves as President and CEO of the Slovak American Foundation, a 501c3 non-profit organization that supports development of the entrepreneurial ecosystem in Slovakia through its US Connections program for innovative Slovak entrepreneurs. In December 2018, she received the Woodrow Wilson Award from the Ambassador of the Slovak Republic to the United States for her contribution to the development of the Slovak-American relations.

Mary’s non-profit service includes Honorary Board Member of College Summit of the National Capital Region and also the DC Region Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship (NFTE); the Board of Directors of MindShare (Emeritus) and Mary’s Center. Mary is active in the Alumni Advisory Board for the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Mary Washington.

Mary has been recognized by Women in Technology and the March of Dimes as a Heroine of Technology and named by Washingtonian Magazine as one of the 100 Most Powerful Women in Washington. She holds a BA in American Studies from Mary Washington College of the University of Virginia and was honored to receive the University of Mary Washington Distinguished Alumnus Award in 2011.