Mary Mitchell is Co-CEO of Girl Scouts—Arizona Cactus-Pine Council. She officially stepped into the role on October 1, 2022 after serving in as interim Co-CEO since 2021. She has spent the majority of her professional career working within the non-profit sector.
Prior to becoming Interim Co-CEO, she served for three years as Deputy Director and co-lead of the council’s senior leadership team. Over the course of her 24 years at the organization, she has held various roles in the areas of fund development, finance, volunteer services, membership and community engagement. Mary serves as the senior advisor and co-lead for the organization’s work related to Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Racial Justice (DEIRJ) and holds an expertise in the areas of community-building, engagement, collaborative practices and team-oriented design.
Mary is a 2017 Virginia G. Piper Charitable Trust Fellow. She is also a member of International Women’s Forum-AZ; a member of the AZ Community Foundation, African American Women’s Giving and Empowerment Circle; a 2020 Phoenix Mercury Believe in Women Honoree; and a 2020 recipient of the YWCA Tribute to Leadership Award; as well as a graduate of Valley Leadership, Class 26.
She values the power of honest and authentic conversation and has an unquenchable thirst for collective dialogue spaces that can bear the weight of what such dialogue and connection can mean for discerning the future of communities and organizations. You will often find her sitting with leaders from a wide spectrum of disciplines, engaging in conversations centered around deep questions that matter and that create action and systemic change.
She has served on several nonprofit boards and community coalitions and is a current Vice President of the Board for Arizona Legal and Women Youth Services; serves as a member of the Communities for Philanthropic Justice, Board of Directors, and as a member of the South Mountain Community College President’s Community Advisory Council.
She holds a Bachelor of Interdisciplinary Studies from Governors State University (GSU) in Chicago and holds an AA in Interdisciplinary Studies, from South Mountain Community College. She completed extensive coursework in Public Relations at Arizona State University, Walter Cronkite School of Journalism, prior to transfer to GSU. Additionally, Mary has completed expansive coursework at Grand Canyon University for an Executive MBA.
Mary is the mother of four (4) adult children and (8) grandchildren.
