Mary Slagle Zappone (born July 15, 1964), daughter of

James Robert Slagle James Robert Slagle (March 1, 1934 – December 3, 2023) was an American computer scientist notable for his many achievements in Artificial Intelligence. Since 1984 he has been the Distinguished Professor of Computer Science at the University of ...

, is an American businesswoman notable for her achievements in business transformation and encouraging women in

STEM Stem or STEM most commonly refers to: * Plant stem, a structural axis of a vascular plant * Stem group * Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics Stem or STEM can also refer to: Language and writing * Word stem, part of a word respon ...

. Zappone sits on the Board of Directors of

Axalta Axalta Coating Systems Ltd., also known as simply Axalta, is an American company specializing in coatings in a wide variety of industrial applications, materials and sectors, including automotive paints. The company is based in Philadelphia, Penn ...

() and is Chief Executive Officer of Sundyne. She has held previous appointments as

CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a chief executive or managing director, is the top-ranking corporate officer charged with the management of an organization, usually a company or a nonprofit organization. CEOs find roles in variou ...

of Brace Industrial, CEO of Service Champ, the largest distributor of consumable automotive aftermarket maintenance parts, CEO of RecoverCare LLC, engagement manager at

McKinsey and Company McKinsey & Company (informally McKinsey or McK) is an American multinational strategy and management consulting firm that offers professional services to corporations, governments, and other organizations. Founded in 1926 by James O. McKinse ...

, President at

Alcoa Alcoa Corporation (an acronym for "Aluminum Company of America") is an American industrial corporation. It is the world's eighth-largest producer of aluminum. Alcoa conducts operations in 10 countries. Alcoa is a major producer of primary alu ...

, in addition to roles at

Tyco International Tyco International was a security systems company incorporated in the Republic of Ireland, with operational headquarters in Princeton, New Jersey, United States (Tyco International (US) Inc.). Tyco International was composed of two major busin ...

General Electric General Electric Company (GE) was an American Multinational corporation, multinational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate founded in 1892, incorporated in the New York (state), state of New York and headquartered in Boston. Over the year ...

, and

ExxonMobil Exxon Mobil Corporation ( ) is an American multinational List of oil exploration and production companies, oil and gas corporation headquartered in Spring, Texas, a suburb of Houston. Founded as the Successors of Standard Oil, largest direct s ...

. She has held positions on notable private boards including Supplies Over Seas,

American Heart Association The American Heart Association (AHA) is a nonprofit organization in the United States that funds cardiovascular medical research, educates consumers on healthy living and fosters appropriate Heart, cardiac care in an effort to reduce disability ...

, and continues to sit on

Johns Hopkins University The Johns Hopkins University (often abbreviated as Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private university, private research university in Baltimore, Maryland, United States. Founded in 1876 based on the European research institution model, J ...

's Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering in the

Whiting School of Engineering The Whiting School of Engineering is the engineering school of the Johns Hopkins University, a private research university in Baltimore, Maryland. History The engineering department at Johns Hopkins was originally created in 1913 as an educatio ...

Education

Zappone received her Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering from Johns Hopkins University in 1986 and her MBA from

Columbia Business School Columbia Business School (CBS) is the business school of Columbia University, a Private university, private research university in New York City. Established in 1916, Columbia Business School is one of six Ivy League business schools and one of ...

. Zappone attended high school at Eleanor Roosevelt High School in Maryland, a public magnet school renowned for its specialized Science and Technology program.

CEO and board member roles

Zappone is CEO of Sundyne and sits on the board of

. She has held previous appointments on the Board of Directors of financial technology firm

Blucora Infospace, Inc. was an American company that offered private label search engine, online directory, and provider of metadata feeds. The company's flagship metasearch site was Dogpile and its other notable consumer brands were WebCrawler and Me ...

, in addition to CEO of Brace Industrial, a Sterling Partners portfolio company, CEO of ServiceChamp, backed by Manhattan-based private equity firm Snow Phipps, and CEO of RecoverCare LLC, a national healthcare equipment provider controlled by Los Angeles-based investment firm Aurora Capital, prior to its merger with Joerns Healthcare in 2015.

Writing

Zappone has written for industry-related publications such as Power Engineering International.

Personal life

Mary married John Zappone, a

Chemical Engineering Chemical engineering is an engineering field which deals with the study of the operation and design of chemical plants as well as methods of improving production. Chemical engineers develop economical commercial processes to convert raw materials ...

classmate at Johns Hopkins University, in September 1986 while the two were pursuing MBA degrees at Columbia. The couple has three daughters who each pursued degrees in

– Frances (born 1992, now Frances Zappone Casella) and Sarah (born 1996) attended the

at Johns Hopkins University while Anna (born 1994, now Anna Zappone Allaby) attended

Stanford University Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...

. Zappone has brushed off questions regarding work life balance in interviews, once saying "it's just one big life," and has been cited to enjoy cooking, traveling and practicing yoga with her daughters.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Zappone, Mary American women chief executives Living people 1964 births American women scientists Columbia Business School alumni Whiting School of Engineering alumni