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Mary knows that school board is about service to the community, to our students, and to our future. It requires selfless behavior, professionalism and the courage to do what is right.  As such, schoolboard service is non-partisan; it is about building up our community, finding solutions and continuous improvement.

 

Mary has served and advocated for education both locally and nationally for over 30 years. As veteran school board member she is asking for the opportunity to continue to use her business, financial, technical, and education background and global leadership experience to continue to serve this community. 

 

​Mary was born on the south side of Chicago, attended Northern Illinois University earning four bachelor's degrees (quadruple major) in Math, International Relations, Information Systems, Business Translation of Spanish, a minor in French. She went on to earn two additional master's degrees from the University of Chicago (MBA/Finance) and Georgia Tech (M.S. Engineering/Computer Science).

She has held executive positions in several multi-national companies, managed budgets of greater than $250M and led multi-national teams. She is also a successful business owner, a board director in both profit and non-profit companies, a court and legislative vetted testifying expert in technology, cyber security, data science and threat intelligence. She has lived and worked in seven states and three countries. 

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In 1992, Mary began volunteering to teach GED as part of the Midnight Basketball program in Dallas, Texas. That program provided safe spaces and services to K - 12 grade students with adult guardians that worked nights and weekends. After that, she began volunteering to tutor, mentor and support various K - 12 school math leagues and support the early beginnings of high school robotics programs. Throughout each location she has lived, she volunteered to teach basic job and computer skills to low-income women and families, became an ESL substitute teacher, she worked with and sponsored equine camps for children with emotional and physical challenges, and began mentoring students in various districts in math and science.

In 2010, after guest lecturing at two of her alma mater's graduate programs and still finding little growth in the number of women in STEM, she began passionately lobbying and promoting access for women in physics, math, technology, engineering and began working with the Washington DC based, Million Women Mentors. Due to her work in the field of promoting and mentoring STEM, in 2016 she was named one of the top U.S. 100 CEOs to promote diversity in STEM along with her former boss, the CEO of Google. 

Since 2018, Mary has been teaching programs at the university level and with various military branches for veterans in programs such as Cyber4Heroes, the NSA sponsored, educational program for veterans of the military and law enforcement. She continues to actively support and contribute to improving K-12 and university curriculums in STEM.

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Mary lives with her husband, Lee, in Prior Lake. They have three children (two living), one grandchild, four horses and two rescue dogs. Their youngest son is a Nuclear Submarine Officer stationed in Pearl Harbor. 

 A well-rounded candidate

School Supplies
  • Business Owner

  • Global Executive, Board Member

  • Six degrees - including a quadruple major with 4 bachelors degrees

  • Master's in international finance

  • Master's in computer science/circuit board engineering

  • Young Business Woman Owner of the Year (NAWBO)

  •  Woman to Watch, Twin Cities Biz Journal 

  •  Enterprising Woman of the Year

  • Top 100 STEM CEOs

  • Top 5 Women in Technology for 2020

  • Globally recognized speaker and expert on Technology, AI, Cyber Security

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Professional

  • Bridges Mentor - 8 years

  • MNCAPS Mentor - 7 years

  • Tutor Math, Science & Technology, supporting 6th through college level - 12 years

  • Support and mentor PLSAS high school students - college applications, recommendation letters 

  • Mentor & Sponsor students in STEM across four different school districts - PLSAS, Wayzata, North Minneapolis, EastView

  • Guest lecturer Wayzata Computer Science Pathway - Compass Program

  • Sponsor and host PLSAS HS students at the annual October Cyber Security Summit

  • Former robotics coach (6th-8th grades)

  • Former coach & sponsor of Camp Invention

  • Prior Lake Rotary (through 2023)

  • 20-year Prior Lake & Savage Resident

  • Parent, Animal lover, community volunteer​

Community

Educator

  • Minnesota Academy of Science -former board treasurer, current sponsor, mentor and judge for state science and engineering fairs/science bowls grades 6 - 8

  • MN STEM Partnership, Board of Advisors

  • Minnesota Cyber Summit, Board of Advisors, Speaker, Sponsor

  • NATO (Brussels) - Cyber Advisory

  • Teach and Advise MN State Universities CompSci and Cyber Curriculums, University of Virginia Law School, Humphrey School of Law, Cardozo Law School, Executive in Residence for NIU and University of Chicago

  • MN IT Center of Excellence - Sponsor and mentor female students for scholarships

  • National security advisor, U.S. rep to UK Board - Global Security and Statehood​

  • Teach Technology Certs, Eden Prairie Community Ed TOFL exam prep (former)

  • Contributor to College Board and MDE Math and Science standards

  • Private and public boards directors and advisory councils​

Address

PO Box 28
Prior Lake , MN 55372

Email

    • passionate about quality education for children and adults alike

    • zealous for lifelong and cross-disciplinary learning

    • an extraordinary communicator who understands complex issues and articulate them clearly

    • a good listener who serves her clients and constituents with sensitivity, caring, and across their shared values

    • a responsible steward of tax money committed to education with long successful experience in business

    • a woman who serves her community tirelessly and with dedication because the future generation and their education matters so much to her

    Richard Thieme

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