Mary Bush grew up in the segregated South in Birmingham, Alabama in the 1950s and 1960s. Despite the difficult environment, her neighborhood provided a supportive community that emphasized education, hard work, excellence and faith as the path forward. She attended Fisk University, majored in economics, and developed an interest in finance. At Chicago Booth business school, Mary concentrated in finance. While in NY money-center banks, she managed global relationships with Fortune 500 companies and did innovative deals that helped establish Bankers Trust’s investment
banking reputation.
In her later work in government, she played a key role representing the U.S. on the International Monetary Fund Board during the 1980s debt crisis. After government service, she helped companies like Fannie Mae expand internationally and played a key role as Head of the Federal Home Loan Bank System during the S&L crisis. Her first board was American Security Bank in 1988. Other boards followed over time in banking, insurance, oil/gas, hospitality, asset management, energy, and defense contracting.
She believes excellence in one’s work and building relationships over time can lead to board opportunities. On boards, she contributes most on strategy and finance and believes that integrity is of utmost importance in the business of the company, even in the face of challenging others. She advocates listening first, then speaking from a position of understanding. She sees board diversity as being beneficial to decision-making and business success. She also believes that board members and prospects should be judged on merit and that a diverse pool of candidates will produce highly qualified candidates who are diverse. She became a board peer by performing strongly over time.
She sees Black board representation increasing due to talent development, shareholder pressure, and companies realizing diversity aids performance in a changing world. Throughout life and service on boards, excellence and integrity have been central principles for her.
