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Putting Gender Diversity In Corporate Governance with Mary McBride and Guest Co-Host Jo Lynne Whiting
Gender diversity has been a prominent issue when it comes to corporate governance. Frequently, it is evident how women hold few positions in the top management and on boards of directors. Mary McBride, Independent Director of CatchMark Timber Trust, walks us through her journey to becoming the first woman board member of this publicly-traded timberland company. The Senior Advisor to Catalyze and the former President of CoBank gives insights on the value of learning about corporate governance early on to develop the skill sets to be a part of the board. Mary is an alumna of the Corporate Boardbound program offered by the Women’s Leadership Foundation.
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Putting Gender Diversity In Corporate Governance with Mary McBride and Guest Co-Host Jo Lynne Whiting
We have a special guest and we have a cohost. Mary McBride is an Independent Director of http://www.catchmark.com/ (CatchMark Timber Trust), a Senior Advisor to https://catalyze.net/ (Catalyze) and the former President of CoBank. We have Jo Lynne Whiting. She is Chair of the https://womensleadershipfoundation.org/ (Boardbound by the Women’s Leadership Foundation). She’s a former executive of US West. We’re going to be talking a little bit about Mary’s background and also how that fits into her board experience. Mary, thanks for being on the podcast.
Thank you for having me. I’m pleased to be here.
Jo Lynne, thank you as well. Mary, if you would tell us a little bit about your background and what led up to your participation in the board world?
I started my career at Bank of Boston as an energy lender in the 1980s. Prior to that, I attended college and got an MBA. I went all through my career building up more and more lending experience and managerial experience. I then worked for First Interstate Bank of Denver. I worked for them for about eight or nine years. Some of the absolute best lending experience I received was as a workout lender during the oil and gas crash here in the 1980s.in
For certain people, it was an awful time. For me, it was certainly a stressful time but you don’t learn more than when you spend Valentine’s night, which is a Friday at [10:00] PM in bankruptcy court. That’s when your learning is at its best. It was a great experience for me. In the early ‘90s, I moved over to CoBank. I worked at CoBank for 23 years and in just about every area you could from lending to operations. I had the capital markets group. I had the finance group, a whole host of various areas there. I left there at the end of ’16. Following that, I said, “I’m not going to be working full-time, but how am I going to spend my time?”
I was not ready to turn it off fully. I said, I’ve got a good background in lending commercial finance and financial services, but more importantly in management and how to run an organization. What are the important components of an organization? How do you govern an organization? How do you set up compliance? How do you set up compensation systems? That led me to an interest in doing corporate board work. When I started that I started building a network. I started looking around and I went through the Boardbound program that Jo Lynne runs here, which was a great program from several aspects. It was wonderful from the content of the program. It was also great to meet other women who have similar interests and are also interested in being on a board. It was also great for making contacts, particularly in the Denver community.
As you go through your career and if you were to offer advice to other people that are interested in being on a board, whether men or women, would you do it as you did and wait until after you got done with your career? How would you do it as you’re looking back now?
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By Bob Roark
5
1212 ratings
Gender diversity has been a prominent issue when it comes to corporate governance. Frequently, it is evident how women hold few positions in the top management and on boards of directors. Mary McBride, Independent Director of CatchMark Timber Trust, walks us through her journey to becoming the first woman board member of this publicly-traded timberland company. The Senior Advisor to Catalyze and the former President of CoBank gives insights on the value of learning about corporate governance early on to develop the skill sets to be a part of the board. Mary is an alumna of the Corporate Boardbound program offered by the Women’s Leadership Foundation.
—
Watch the episode:
Listen to the podcast:
Putting Gender Diversity In Corporate Governance with Mary McBride and Guest Co-Host Jo Lynne Whiting
We have a special guest and we have a cohost. Mary McBride is an Independent Director of http://www.catchmark.com/ (CatchMark Timber Trust), a Senior Advisor to https://catalyze.net/ (Catalyze) and the former President of CoBank. We have Jo Lynne Whiting. She is Chair of the https://womensleadershipfoundation.org/ (Boardbound by the Women’s Leadership Foundation). She’s a former executive of US West. We’re going to be talking a little bit about Mary’s background and also how that fits into her board experience. Mary, thanks for being on the podcast.
Thank you for having me. I’m pleased to be here.
Jo Lynne, thank you as well. Mary, if you would tell us a little bit about your background and what led up to your participation in the board world?
I started my career at Bank of Boston as an energy lender in the 1980s. Prior to that, I attended college and got an MBA. I went all through my career building up more and more lending experience and managerial experience. I then worked for First Interstate Bank of Denver. I worked for them for about eight or nine years. Some of the absolute best lending experience I received was as a workout lender during the oil and gas crash here in the 1980s.in
For certain people, it was an awful time. For me, it was certainly a stressful time but you don’t learn more than when you spend Valentine’s night, which is a Friday at [10:00] PM in bankruptcy court. That’s when your learning is at its best. It was a great experience for me. In the early ‘90s, I moved over to CoBank. I worked at CoBank for 23 years and in just about every area you could from lending to operations. I had the capital markets group. I had the finance group, a whole host of various areas there. I left there at the end of ’16. Following that, I said, “I’m not going to be working full-time, but how am I going to spend my time?”
I was not ready to turn it off fully. I said, I’ve got a good background in lending commercial finance and financial services, but more importantly in management and how to run an organization. What are the important components of an organization? How do you govern an organization? How do you set up compliance? How do you set up compensation systems? That led me to an interest in doing corporate board work. When I started that I started building a network. I started looking around and I went through the Boardbound program that Jo Lynne runs here, which was a great program from several aspects. It was wonderful from the content of the program. It was also great to meet other women who have similar interests and are also interested in being on a board. It was also great for making contacts, particularly in the Denver community.
As you go through your career and if you were to offer advice to other people that are interested in being on a board, whether men or women, would you do it as you did and wait until after you got done with your career? How would you do it as you’re looking back now?