Bio

Mary is the Founder and CEO and a nationally recognized expert in ESOPs with more than 30 years of experience advising, structuring, and closing over 300 transactions for the ownership transition of middle-market companies. Mary founded and built the ESOP group at Chicago’s LaSalle National Bank into the nation’s leading middle-market ESOP advisory team. Mary also co-founded and launched a leading ESOP Advisory practice for ABN AMRO LaSalle Corporate Finance. Upon LaSalle’s acquisition by Bank of America, Mary led the ESOP Solutions Group for all of Bank of America-Merrill Lynch, before going on to form her own advisory firm, Verit Advisors LLC. During her career, Mary has continually held leadership positions throughout the ESOP community including: member of the ESOP Association’s Board of Directors, chair of their Advisory Committee, chair of their Finance Advisory Committee, and a lifetime membership on the ESOP Association’s Board of Governors. She has been a board member of the National Center for Employee Ownership and currently is an Advisory Board member for Employee Owned S Corporations of America (ESCA) and is a member of Rutgers University NJ/NY Center for Employee Ownership Advisory Board. Mary has spoken at hundreds of conferences nationally, and frequently authors pieces on issues related to succession and liquidity alternatives for closely-held businesses, including ESOPs, ESOP financing, ESOP M&A, and other corporate finance solutions. She was also selected as one of the most influential women in mid-market M&A by Mergers & Acquisition magazine in 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2020. Named to Chicago Crain’s list of Notable Entrepreneurs 2019 and Private Company Director 2019 Directors to Watch.