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Maryann Bruce

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Maryann Bruce has been a corporate executive and board member for multiple businesses and nonprofits including Amalgamated Financial Corp., MBIA, PNC Funds, the Atlanta Life Financial Group, and the Committee of 200. 1 2 Bruce is a former president at Evergreen Investment Services, Inc., and Evergreen Investments and Management LLC. 1 Bruce joined the board of the labor union-aligned Amalgamated Bank in August 2018. 3 4

She has been active in organizations that promote women in business as well as promoting women in sports. Bruce is the chair of the board for Wrestle Like a Girl and is a founding member of Empower Her Fund LLC that is part owner of the women’s soccer team Carolina Ascent. 5 2

Professional Career

Maryann Bruce was a corporate executive and later board member for several companies. Bruce was formerly president at Aquila Distributors LLC, an investment firm, from 2008 to 2010. 1

Bruce was president of Evergreen Investments Services, Inc., a subsidiary of Wachovia, from 1999 to 2007. 6 While there, she was responsible for generating $317 million in annual revenue. 2 Bruce launched the Evergreen Asset Allocation Fund that grew to $10 billion in assets under her management in five years. Bruce increased employee diversity at the company from less than 5 percent to nearly 40 percent. 2

Bruce was the president and CEO of Allstate Financial Distributors, Inc. from 1998 to 1999. 6

In the 1980s through the late 1990s, Bruce held senior executive positions at JC Bradford and Company in Nashville, Tennessee, and Oppenheimer Funds based in New York City. 6

Bruce is a founding investor in Empower HER Fund, LLC., a company that promotes women entrepreneurship. 5 Empower owns 25 percent of Carolina Ascent FC, a professional women’s soccer team that plays in the United Soccer League. The team has majority female ownership. Bruce said she thought about owning a professional women’s sports team for about five years prior to the 2024 investment in the soccer team. 5 Bruce’s daughter, Vicky Bruce, was the first player to sign for Carolina Ascent FC. 7

Bruce was among the participants to prepare a report released in January 2021 from Ellig Group and the Society for Human Resource Management that called for more diversity on corporate boards of directors, with nine recommendations on how to be more diverse. 8

Bruce has been honored by Directors & Boards magazine as one of 20 accomplished female board members in “Directors to Watch 2017.” 4 US Banker magazine has also included Bruce in its “The 25 Most Powerful Women in Banking” list. 4 The Securities and Exchange Commission lauded Bruce’s work for disallowing improper trading. 2

Personal Life and Education

Bruce was a passenger aboard the January 2009 US Airways Flight 1549, which made a water landing in the Hudson River known as the “Miracle on the Hudson.” 2 Bruce said the experience “always causes me to pause and reflect on my life since that fateful day.” She added, “I am profoundly grateful for the time spent with my family and loved ones and the continued opportunity to pursue my dreams. That experience has shaped me into a better wife, mother, sibling, friend, colleague, leader, and board member.” 9

Bruce graduated magna cum laude from Duke University with a Bachelor of Arts in Economics. 2

Bruce was involved in executive leadership programs at the University of Michigan, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, and Yale University. 2

Corporate Boards

Maryann Bruce is the chair of the board for Pop Venture Fund. 6 The company asserts it makes venture capital popular and investments accessible for those other than the wealthy. 10

In 2023, Bruce became a board member of NextPoint Financial, where she is the chair of the Governance & Nominating Committee and a member of the Executive, Audit, and Compensation Committees. 6

Bruce joined the board of the labor union-aligned Amalgamated Bank in August 2018. 3 4 At Amalgamated Bank, Bruce is the chair of the Enterprise Risk Oversight Committee. She is also a member of the Executive and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), Audit, and Credit Committees. 6 2 The bank was founded in 1923 as Amalgamated Bank of New York by the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America. The bank is a member of the Global Alliance for Banking on Values. 11 The bank was formerly a labor union-owned bank before it made an initial public offering in 2018. The bank has more than $4 billion in assets and operates as a “a left-of-center, changemaker bank” to push for liberal corporate policies. 12

Bruce was a board member for MBIA, a municipal bond investment service, from 2012 to 2017. 6

Bruce was on the board of trustees for PNC Funds and PNC Advantage Funds from 2016 to 2018. But she resigned from the board over a conflict of interest. 6 4

From 2014 to 2016, Bruce was the chair of the compensation committee on the board of Atlanta Life Financial Group. 6 4 Bruce was also on the board of Allianz Funds. 4 Bruce has been on the advisory board of RealBlocks, a fintech company, starting in 2020. 2 13

Nonprofit Activities

In 2021, Maryann Bruce was elected chair of the C200 Foundation, originally known as the Committee of 200. 1 13 Bruce was the treasurer and the investment committee chair for the C200 Foundation from 2011 through 2019. 2 C200 is an invitation-only organization of female corporate executives and entrepreneurs, representing more than $1.4 trillion combined revenue, and employing more than 2.5 million individuals. C200 was founded in 1982, when a committee of 200 women in business gathered to raise funds for another women’s business organization. The organization has more than 500 women. 13

Bruce has been the chair of the board for Wrestle Like a Girl since 2020. 2 Wrestle Like A Girl is an organization that says it seeks to empower girls and women using the sport of wrestling to promote gender equality, and social mobility. It has a motto of P.R.I.D.E., which stands for passion, respect, integrity, diversity and inclusion, and excellence. It also supports Empowering Women Through Sports Leadership Program, or EWTSLP, that tries to empower women wrestlers from around the world. 14

Bruce was the founder of the Carolinas chapter of the National Association of Corporate Directors, and from 2013 through 2019, she was on the board as the treasurer, and chair of the finance and nominating committees. 2

Bruce has been a member of the Duke University Libraries Advisory Board since 2011. Bruce has also been a member of the International Women’s Forum, that focuses on advancing women’s leadership and advocating for equality of women’s rights with men. Bruce has been a member of Women Corporate Directors, a group focused on advancing influential women corporate directors. 2

Bruce was also a founding member of Paradigm for Parity, also known as P4P, a coalition of business leaders focused on achieving full gender parity by 2030. 2 13

Bruce has been an advisory board member of Divershefy. 13 The organization’s mission is to increase the number of women on corporate boards, advisory boards, and leadership teams of major companies. 15

References

  1. “Maryann Bruce.” Market Screener. Accessed February 20, 2025. https://www.marketscreener.com/insider/MARYANN-BRUCE-A029GF/
  2. “Maryann Bruce.” ABC to CEO. Accessed February 21, 2025. https://www.abctoceo.org/maryann-bruce
  3. Press Release. “Amalgamated Bank Board of Directors Welcomes New Board Members.” August 14, 2018. Accessed February 21, 2025. https://www.amalgamatedbank.com/news/amalgamated-bank-board-directors-welcomes-new-board-members
  4. “Maryann Bruce.” Amalgamated Bank. Accessed February 20, 2025. https://www.amalgamatedbank.com/contact/maryann-bruce
  5. Mahoney, Ashley. “Female investors join new Charlotte professional women’s soccer team’s ownership.” Axios. August 5, 2024. Accessed February 20, 2025. https://www.axios.com/local/charlotte/2024/08/05/new-charlotte-womens-soccer-team-adds-female-owners
  6. “Maryann Bruce.” LinkedIn. Accessed February 21, 2025. https://www.linkedin.com/in/maryann-bruce/
  7. Staff. “Carolina Ascent FC descends on Memorial Stadium Aug. 17.” Cornelius Today. August 15, 2024. Accessed February 21, 2025. https://www.corneliustoday.com/carolina-ascent-fc-descends-on-memorial-stadium-aug-17/
  8. Press Release. “Nine Actionable Solutions to Reimagining Board Diversity” Ellig Group. January 25, 2021. Accessed February 21, 2025. https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/nine-actionable-solutions-to-reimagining-board-diversity-301214066.html
  9. “Maryann Bruce.” LinkedIn. January 15, 2025. Accessed February 22, 2025. https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7285277723973808129/
  10. “Pop Venture.” LinkedIn. Accessed February 22, 2025. https://www.linkedin.com/company/popventure/about/
  11. Press Release. “Amalgamated Financial Corp. Appoints Julieta Ross and Scott Stoll to its Board of Directors.” Amalgamated Bank. November 16, 2023. Accessed February 21, 2025. https://ir.amalgamatedbank.com/news-releases/news-release-details/amalgamated-financial-corp-appoints-julieta-ross-and-scott-stoll
  12. Landy, Heather. “How one of America’s original mission-driven businesses rediscovered its purpose.” Quartz. October 11, 2017. Accessed March 8, 2018. https://work.qz.com/1098025/amalgamated-bank-ceo-keith-mestrich-on-being-a-mission-driven-business/
  13. Bruce, Maryann. “A New Part of my Journey: Chair Elect for C200.” Medium. December 20, 2021. Accessed February 21, 2025. https://a-point-of-view.medium.com/maryann-bruce-749fe4f53ed1
  14. “About Us.” Wrestle Like a Girl.” Accessed February 21, 2025. https://wrestlelikeagirl.org/about-us
  15. “About Divershefy.” Divershefy. Accessed February 22, 2025. https://www.divershefy.com/about
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