President’s Column

PRESIDENT'S

COLUMN

By PETER GEE, MBA 2021 President

First, and most excitingly, please join me in welcoming Mary Ann Upchurch as our new Executive Director. Reaching this point took an incredible amount of work and the MBA is indebted to the Personnel Committee for their diligent search and interview process. Prior to joining the MBA, Mary Ann worked for the American Cancer Society for the past 20 years in many different roles. She is a leader of teams, a big thinker and not afraid to set large fundraising goals. She may be calling you soon about getting involved with the MBA and I hope you will find ways you can help us serve the greater Memphis community through a strengthened MBA. Mary Ann is already hard at work on a President’s Circle that will help us move to the next level. I have enjoyed working with Mary Ann these last few weeks and I can see that the next chapter of the MBA will be a strong one.

I also wanted to take a moment to thank Maury Tower for serving as our Interim Executive Director. Maury was instrumental in the marketing that you have seen for the last several months. She has also worked tirelessly on the financial side of the organization, helping us build a stronger, healthier MBA. The MBA will forever be in her debt for the massive challenge that she undertook.

We have a great staff at the MBA and believe we’re set up for a lot of success in the years to come. Lauren Gooch continues to keep us competitive with CLE and our membership roles. Kelly Swan is doing great with our social media and our communications. In the coming months we will focus on 901 Legal Connect. I believe that the MBA is at our best when we intersect with the community. 901 Legal Connect is an online intake and referral system that helps people in need find low or no cost legal assistance from the Community Legal Center and Memphis Area Legal Services.

It is always a good time to get more involved with the MBA. Do not fall into that trap of thinking it’s too early or too late in your career to volunteer and find a project to nurture and grow. 