Mary Cunningham Agee
Encyclopedia
Mary Cunningham Agee is an American business executive and author.Powerplay: What Really Happened at Bendix, Mary Cunningham Agee, Simon Schuster, 1984 She served in the top management of two Fortune 100 companies in the 1980s, one of the first women to do so, and was twice voted one of the “25 Most Influential Women in America” by World Almanac
1981 and 1982. Agee is a Managing Partner of the Semper Charitable Foundation and CEO of the family’s boutique wine business, Aurea Estate Wines, Inc.
Agee is Founder and CEO of The Nurturing Network, (TNN) an international charitable organization that provides an alternative to abortion for women facing unplanned pregnancy. She is a counselor to TNN clients and a motivational speaker.
, Maine
to Irish-American parents. When she was five years old, her parents separated. Her mother moved her four children to Hanover, New Hampshire
where a relative, Monsignor William “Father Bill” Nolan, who was chaplain at Dartmouth College offered paternal support for the family.
(now merged with Boston College
) in Newton, Massachusetts
and was elected Class President. She was awarded a full academic scholarship to attend Wellesley College where she transferred for her sophomore year. She won a Slater Fellowship to study law and ethics at Trinity College, Dublin
for her junior year abroad and received two Danforth Nominations to continue her studies in ethics and moral philosophy at the graduate level. She graduated Phi Beta Kappa and magna cum laude from Wellesley in 1973 with B.A.
in logic and philosophy.
She graduated in 1979 from the Harvard Business School
with an MBA in Finance & International Business. The HBS Dean referred to Cunningham having the "best chance of being the first female graduate of the Business School to become chairman of a non-cosmetic company".
in the Corporate Banking Department of the Chase Manhattan Bank
and in the Corporate Finance Department of Salomon Brothers
. On graduation from Harvard Business School, she accepted a management position as Executive Assistant to the CEO of the Bendix Corporation
, William Agee
."Business: Bendix Abuzz", Time, October 6, 1980Mary Agee, USNews & World Report, Megan Barnett, February 28, 2005
She was promoted to Vice President of Strategic Planning at Bendix.Following contention, Cunningham resigned on October 8, 1980."A Bendix Vice-President Faces Down Gossips Who Joke of Executive Sweets" People, Julie Greenwalt, Jon Keller Vol.14, No. 16., October 20, 1980 "Mary Cunningham", Julie Greenwalt, People, Vol.14, No. 26, December 29, 1980Stanford University Business School made Cunningham’s experience a case study in its course, “Power and Politics in Organizations.”
Following her departure from Bendix, Cunningham accepted the position of Vice President of Strategic Planning at Joseph E. Seagram and Sons
where she reported to both President, Phil Beekman, and CEO, Edgar Bronfman Sr. "Mary Cunningham", Redux, Time, March 9, 1981 Within a year, she was promoted to Executive Vice President of the newly formed Seagram Wine Company overseeing the development and implementation of Seagram's worldwide wine strategy.Business Ethics: Concepts and Cases, Manuel G. Velasquez, Prentis Hall, 1982 In June 1982, nearly two years after leaving Bendix, Cunningham married William Agee. They moved to Cape Cod where she had spent most of her summers since childhood. Agee lives in the Napa Valley with her husband, Bill Agee. She is the mother of two children – Mary Alana, and Will Agee.
Agee was an early advocate of establishing a common ground in the debate over abortion. Peter Jennings noted Agee's common ground position in his report, "The Next Civil War" on ABC News
Forum.
Agee's book, Compassion in Action, presents her story of the Network's program over 20 years. Her work has been featured in publications such as the Wall Street Journal, Reader's Digest,US News and World Report, The Washington Post
, and Good Housekeeping
, and she has been profiled on American radio and television programs such as CBS' 48 Hours
, and James Dobson
’s Focus on the Family
.
. Agee currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Hoffman Institute and the Board of Overseers for the Aquinas House at Dartmouth College. She is a member of the Advisory Council of the Hoover Institution
and the Board of Governors of the Council for National Policy.Cambridge Who's Who Registry - Executive & Professional Biographies, 2009 Edition
, Franklin Pierce College
, Chestnut Hill College
, Notre Dame College
and the Dominican School of Philosophy & Theology at Berkeley.
In the 1980s, Good Housekeeping voted Agee in their 100th Anniversary Edition as one of "100 Young Women of Promise" and she was included among the YWCA
's Academy of Women Achievers. Her business awards include the inaugural Ambassador of the Year Award from Legatus,the ITV Woman of the Year Award from the Archdiocese of New York, the John Paul II Award from the Institute for the Psychological Sciences, the Ex corde Ecclesiae Award from the Cardinal Newman Society
, the Citizen of the Year Award from the Idaho Family Forum, Pro-Vita Award from the Archdiocese of Brooklyn, the Archbishop John Hughes Award and the James Keller Award from The Christophers. She was chosen by Cambridge Who’s Who as “Entrepreneur of the Year” for the Not-For-Profit-Sector in 2009.Cambridge Who's Who Registry - Executive & Professional Biographies, 2009 Edition
Agee also received the Freedom Award from Provo, Utah
, the Economic Equity Award from the Women's Equity Action League
, the Humanitarian Lifetime Award from the Wisdom Institute, the Centennial Medal of Honor from the Columbus School of Law
at Catholic University of America, and a national award by the members of the U.S. Senate and Childhelp USA.
World Almanac
In 1993 Scripps sold the Almanac to K-III .The World Almanac was sold to Ripplewood Holdings' WRC Media in 1999. Ripplewood bought Reader's Digest and the book was then produced by the World Almanac Education Group, which was owned by The Reader's Digest Association...
1981 and 1982. Agee is a Managing Partner of the Semper Charitable Foundation and CEO of the family’s boutique wine business, Aurea Estate Wines, Inc.
Agee is Founder and CEO of The Nurturing Network, (TNN) an international charitable organization that provides an alternative to abortion for women facing unplanned pregnancy. She is a counselor to TNN clients and a motivational speaker.
Early years
Cunningham was born in PortlandPortland, Maine
Portland is the largest city in Maine and is the county seat of Cumberland County. The 2010 city population was 66,194, growing 3 percent since the census of 2000...
, Maine
Maine
Maine is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States, bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the east and south, New Hampshire to the west, and the Canadian provinces of Quebec to the northwest and New Brunswick to the northeast. Maine is both the northernmost and easternmost...
to Irish-American parents. When she was five years old, her parents separated. Her mother moved her four children to Hanover, New Hampshire
Hanover, New Hampshire
Hanover is a town along the Connecticut River in Grafton County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 11,260 at the 2010 census. CNN and Money magazine rated Hanover the sixth best place to live in America in 2011, and the second best in 2007....
where a relative, Monsignor William “Father Bill” Nolan, who was chaplain at Dartmouth College offered paternal support for the family.
Education
Cunningham graduated from Hanover High School in 1969. She worked summers on Cape Cod as a short order cook and as a bank teller to supplement her college tuition scholarship. Her family could not afford an Ivy League college so she enrolled at Newton College of the Sacred HeartNewton College of the Sacred Heart
Newton College of the Sacred Heart was a small women's liberal arts college in Newton Centre, Massachusetts. It opened in 1946 and merged with Boston College in June 1974....
(now merged with Boston College
Boston College
Boston College is a private Jesuit research university located in the village of Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts, USA. The main campus is bisected by the border between the cities of Boston and Newton. It has 9,200 full-time undergraduates and 4,000 graduate students. Its name reflects its early...
) in Newton, Massachusetts
Newton, Massachusetts
Newton is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States bordered to the east by Boston. According to the 2010 U.S. Census, the population of Newton was 85,146, making it the eleventh largest city in the state.-Villages:...
and was elected Class President. She was awarded a full academic scholarship to attend Wellesley College where she transferred for her sophomore year. She won a Slater Fellowship to study law and ethics at Trinity College, Dublin
Trinity College, Dublin
Trinity College, Dublin , formally known as the College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity of Queen Elizabeth near Dublin, was founded in 1592 by letters patent from Queen Elizabeth I as the "mother of a university", Extracts from Letters Patent of Elizabeth I, 1592: "...we...found and...
for her junior year abroad and received two Danforth Nominations to continue her studies in ethics and moral philosophy at the graduate level. She graduated Phi Beta Kappa and magna cum laude from Wellesley in 1973 with B.A.
Bachelor of Arts
A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...
in logic and philosophy.
She graduated in 1979 from the Harvard Business School
Harvard Business School
Harvard Business School is the graduate business school of Harvard University in Boston, Massachusetts, United States and is widely recognized as one of the top business schools in the world. The school offers the world's largest full-time MBA program, doctoral programs, and many executive...
with an MBA in Finance & International Business. The HBS Dean referred to Cunningham having the "best chance of being the first female graduate of the Business School to become chairman of a non-cosmetic company".
Career
Cunningham was employed on Wall StreetWall Street
Wall Street refers to the financial district of New York City, named after and centered on the eight-block-long street running from Broadway to South Street on the East River in Lower Manhattan. Over time, the term has become a metonym for the financial markets of the United States as a whole, or...
in the Corporate Banking Department of the Chase Manhattan Bank
Chase Manhattan Bank
JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A., doing business as Chase, is a national bank that constitutes the consumer and commercial banking subsidiary of financial services firm JPMorgan Chase. The bank was known as Chase Manhattan Bank until it merged with J.P. Morgan & Co. in 2000...
and in the Corporate Finance Department of Salomon Brothers
Salomon Brothers
Salomon Brothers was a bulge bracket, Wall Street investment bank. Founded in 1910 by three brothers along with a clerk named Ben Levy, it remained a partnership until the early 1980s, when it was acquired by the commodity trading firm Phibro Corporation and then became Salomon Inc. Eventually...
. On graduation from Harvard Business School, she accepted a management position as Executive Assistant to the CEO of the Bendix Corporation
Bendix Corporation
The Bendix Corporation was an American manufacturing and engineering company which during various times in its 60 year existence made brake systems, aeronautical hydraulics, avionics, aircraft and automobile fuel control systems, radios, televisions and computers, and which licensed its name for...
, William Agee
William Agee
William Joseph Agee is an American businessman. In 1976 at age 38, he became the youngest non-family member CEO of a Fortune 100 Company when he was appointed President and CEO of the Bendix Corporation. In the 1980s and 1990s he served as Chairman, President and CEO of Morrison Knudsen Corporation...
."Business: Bendix Abuzz", Time, October 6, 1980Mary Agee, USNews & World Report, Megan Barnett, February 28, 2005
She was promoted to Vice President of Strategic Planning at Bendix.Following contention, Cunningham resigned on October 8, 1980."A Bendix Vice-President Faces Down Gossips Who Joke of Executive Sweets" People, Julie Greenwalt, Jon Keller Vol.14, No. 16., October 20, 1980 "Mary Cunningham", Julie Greenwalt, People, Vol.14, No. 26, December 29, 1980Stanford University Business School made Cunningham’s experience a case study in its course, “Power and Politics in Organizations.”
Following her departure from Bendix, Cunningham accepted the position of Vice President of Strategic Planning at Joseph E. Seagram and Sons
Seagram
The Seagram Company Ltd. was a large corporation headquartered in Montreal, Quebec, Canada that was the largest distiller of alcoholic beverages in the world. Toward the end of its independent existence it also controlled various entertainment and other business ventures...
where she reported to both President, Phil Beekman, and CEO, Edgar Bronfman Sr. "Mary Cunningham", Redux, Time, March 9, 1981 Within a year, she was promoted to Executive Vice President of the newly formed Seagram Wine Company overseeing the development and implementation of Seagram's worldwide wine strategy.Business Ethics: Concepts and Cases, Manuel G. Velasquez, Prentis Hall, 1982 In June 1982, nearly two years after leaving Bendix, Cunningham married William Agee. They moved to Cape Cod where she had spent most of her summers since childhood. Agee lives in the Napa Valley with her husband, Bill Agee. She is the mother of two children – Mary Alana, and Will Agee.
The Nurturing Network
Agee lost her first child, Angela Grace, in a late trimester miscarriage in January, 1984. This caused Agee to investigate the availability of resources for women whose pregnancies end through abortion due to lack of economic, educational or social support.Agee then decided to create the Nurturing Network. The Agees sold their vacation home for start-up funds and The Nurturing Network opened its doors, providing women with access to resources, counseling and advice. Agee's role at TNN includes writing and motivational speaking.Agee was an early advocate of establishing a common ground in the debate over abortion. Peter Jennings noted Agee's common ground position in his report, "The Next Civil War" on ABC News
ABC News
ABC News is the news gathering and broadcasting division of American broadcast television network ABC, a subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company...
Forum.
Agee's book, Compassion in Action, presents her story of the Network's program over 20 years. Her work has been featured in publications such as the Wall Street Journal, Reader's Digest,US News and World Report, The Washington Post
The Washington Post
The Washington Post is Washington, D.C.'s largest newspaper and its oldest still-existing paper, founded in 1877. Located in the capital of the United States, The Post has a particular emphasis on national politics. D.C., Maryland, and Virginia editions are printed for daily circulation...
, and Good Housekeeping
Good Housekeeping
Good Housekeeping is a women's magazine owned by the Hearst Corporation, featuring articles about women's interests, product testing by The Good Housekeeping Institute, recipes, diet, health as well as literary articles. It is well known for the "Good Housekeeping Seal," popularly known as the...
, and she has been profiled on American radio and television programs such as CBS' 48 Hours
48 Hours (TV series)
48 Hours is a documentary and news program broadcast on the CBS television network since January 19, 1988. The program originally presented documentaries of various events related to a particular subject occurring within a 48-hour period, and is credited as one of the first to air a "reality show"...
, and James Dobson
James Dobson
James Clayton "Jim" Dobson, Jr. is an American evangelical Christian author, psychologist, and founder in 1977 of Focus on the Family , which he led until 2003. In the 1980s he was ranked as one of the most influential spokesman for conservative social positions in American public life...
’s Focus on the Family
Focus on the Family
Focus on the Family is an American evangelical Christian tax-exempt non-profit organization founded in 1977 by psychologist James Dobson, and is based in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Focus on the Family is one of a number of evangelical parachurch organizations that rose to prominence in the 1980s...
.
Affiliations
Agee has served on the boards of First Women’s Bank of New York, the Catholic Schools Foundation in Boston, the Gregorian Foundation, The Graduate School of Business at University College Dublin, the Culture of Life Foundation, Loyola College in Maryland and the National Council for Adoption. She is a founding member of the Napa Valley Chapter of LegatusLegatus
A legatus was a general in the Roman army, equivalent to a modern general officer. Being of senatorial rank, his immediate superior was the dux, and he outranked all military tribunes...
. Agee currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Hoffman Institute and the Board of Overseers for the Aquinas House at Dartmouth College. She is a member of the Advisory Council of the Hoover Institution
Hoover Institution
The Hoover Institution on War, Revolution and Peace is a public policy think tank and library founded in 1919 by then future U.S. president, Herbert Hoover, an early alumnus of Stanford....
and the Board of Governors of the Council for National Policy.Cambridge Who's Who Registry - Executive & Professional Biographies, 2009 Edition
Awards and honors
Agee has received honorary doctorates from Franciscan University, Loyola College, Stonehill CollegeStonehill College
Stonehill College is a private Roman Catholic college located in Easton, Massachusetts, United States, founded in 1948. Situated in North Easton, Massachusetts, a suburban community of 23,329 people, Stonehill is located south of Boston on a campus, the original estate of Frederick Lothrop Ames...
, Franklin Pierce College
Franklin Pierce College
Franklin Pierce University is a small, private, regionally-accredited university in rural Rindge, New Hampshire, founded in 1962, combining a liberal arts foundation with coursework for professional preparation...
, Chestnut Hill College
Chestnut Hill College
Chestnut Hill College is a coeducational Roman Catholic college in the Chestnut Hill section of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. It was founded in 1924 as a women's college by the Sisters of St. Joseph. It was originally called Mount Saint Joseph College and assumed its current name in 1938. In...
, Notre Dame College
Notre Dame College
Notre Dame College, also known as Notre Dame College of Ohio or simply NDC, is a Catholic, coeducational, liberal arts college in South Euclid, Ohio, USA. Established in 1922 as a women's college it has been coeducational since January 2001...
and the Dominican School of Philosophy & Theology at Berkeley.
In the 1980s, Good Housekeeping voted Agee in their 100th Anniversary Edition as one of "100 Young Women of Promise" and she was included among the YWCA
YWCA
The YWCA USA is the United States branch of a women's membership movement that strives to create opportunities for women's growth, leadership and power in order to attain a common vision—to eliminate racism and empower women. The YWCA is a non-profit organization, the first of which was founded in...
's Academy of Women Achievers. Her business awards include the inaugural Ambassador of the Year Award from Legatus,the ITV Woman of the Year Award from the Archdiocese of New York, the John Paul II Award from the Institute for the Psychological Sciences, the Ex corde Ecclesiae Award from the Cardinal Newman Society
Cardinal Newman Society
The Cardinal Newman Society is a 501 tax-exempt, nonprofit organization founded in 1993 and dedicated to what it calls the renewal of Catholic identity on the campuses of colleges and universities in the United States...
, the Citizen of the Year Award from the Idaho Family Forum, Pro-Vita Award from the Archdiocese of Brooklyn, the Archbishop John Hughes Award and the James Keller Award from The Christophers. She was chosen by Cambridge Who’s Who as “Entrepreneur of the Year” for the Not-For-Profit-Sector in 2009.Cambridge Who's Who Registry - Executive & Professional Biographies, 2009 Edition
Agee also received the Freedom Award from Provo, Utah
Provo, Utah
Provo is the third largest city in the U.S. state of Utah, located about south of Salt Lake City along the Wasatch Front. Provo is the county seat of Utah County and lies between the cities of Orem to the north and Springville to the south...
, the Economic Equity Award from the Women's Equity Action League
Women's Equity Action League
The Women's Equity Action League, or WEAL, was a United States women's rights organization founded in 1968, during the feminist movement. The Women's Equity Action League was founded in Ohio and headquartered in Washington, D.C., as a "spin-off" of the National Organization for Women by more...
, the Humanitarian Lifetime Award from the Wisdom Institute, the Centennial Medal of Honor from the Columbus School of Law
Columbus School of Law
The Columbus School of Law, also known as CUA Law, is the law school of The Catholic University of America, in Washington, D.C..Over 900 Juris Doctor students attend CUA Law. Incoming classes are typically composed of two to three hundred students, including day and night programs. Around 3,500...
at Catholic University of America, and a national award by the members of the U.S. Senate and Childhelp USA.