CVNM Board President
Mary A. Laraia is a specialist in public policy, philanthropy, the environment and banking. She has held executive management positions in the corporate, government and nonprofit sectors, and received numerous honors for her leadership, creativity and management of programs in community and sustainable development. Known as an innovator in corporate management, she has headed compliance, community development, sustainability and philanthropic functions for three of the nation’s largest financial institutions.
She most recently served as the Deputy General Superintendent of the Forest Preserves of Cook County, Illinois, and on the Board of Directors of Standard Bank and Trust Company of Illinois, and is on the Advisory Board of the Union of Concerned Scientists. She attended Northwestern and Loyola Universities and was a Loeb Fellow at Harvard University. She has been honored with the Motorola/Crain’s Excellence in Public Service Award, “100 Women Making a Difference” by the Chicago Tribune and also by Crain’s Chicago Business, and was named to Northwestern University’s first “Council of 100” top women graduates, and the Fellowship of the British American Project.
In her spare time, Mary volunteers at the Humane Society, and loves making art, reading, cycling and riding her horse, Copper.