Mary Jane Potter '75
Mary Jane Potter is a multi-faceted innovator, having dedicated her time and energy not just to her successful career, but to those in need of both her caring nature and personal expertise. A member of St. Lawrence’s class of 1975, she earned her Bachelor of Arts degree majoring in government, graduating with honors. Mary Jane would follow by earning her Master’s in International Affairs from Columbia University.
The Guilford, CT native built an impactful career as a financial executive and board director of both domestic and international financial services firms, start-up telecommunications companies, and not-for-profit organizations. Mary Jane’s banking and finance career covered many vital topics while bridging into personal passions, including private equity investing and management, corporate and correspondent banking, business planning for start-up and micro-enterprise businesses, and rudimentary financial training for women in refugee environments.
At the outset of her career, Mary Jane was an analyst of USA Congressional matters for the Embassy of Japan based in the United StateS. She held multiple roles in the international financial world, including a 16-year period at what is now JP Morgan Chase. She then transitioned AIG’s Global Investment Group, where she directed private equity investments in telecommunications companies across three continents and ran AIG’s private equity fund for Africa. Just prior to retirement, she was shareholder, partner, and chief investment officer (CIO) of a US-based boutique alternative investment management company dedicated to providing debt financing for agricultural and food processing equipment in Africa.
While Mary Jane’s career is impressive, her passion for improving the lives of others through her skillset, humanity, and faith is truly distinctive. She set up a training program for the International Rescue Committee, teaching micro-finance for illiterate women in both Somaliland and Kenya’s Kakuma Refugee Camp. More recently, she was Chair of the Board of the African Medical and Research Foundation (AMREF) Health Africa USA and a member of the International Advisory Board of AMREF Health Africa. AMREF is the largest, indigenous not-for-profit, pan-African public health agency, and parent organization of the Flying Doctors of East Africa and AMREF International University (AMIU), specializing in public health education headquartered in Nairobi, Kenya. Mary Jane also previously served on and led multiple not-for-profit boards, including as President of the Board of Trustees of the Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church (New York City) and as a member of the United States National Advisory Board for Presbyterian Disaster Assistance.
Mary Jane has managed to keep St. Lawrence a priority amidst her life of influence. She is a Sustaining Saint, a member of the University’s Legacy Society, and has previously served as a fundraising volunteer. Her support of St. Lawrence’s Engaging Africa Initiative will establish a scholarship for a student from African, and her leadership is helping to provide internships at AMREF for St. Lawrence students on the Kenya Semester Program studying public health.