Former Wall Street executive Kennemur to lead Business Partnership Foundation

Mary Kennemur, former first vice president and regional managing director for Merrill Lynch and an alumna of the Moore School of Business, has been named executive director of the Business Partnership Foundation (BPF) at the University of South Carolina.

“Mary Kennemur exemplifies the professional achievement and commitment to the Moore School of Business at the University of South Carolina that will allow the Business Partnership Foundation to meet its fullest potential in supporting the strategic direction for our school,” said Dr. Hildy Teegen, dean of the Moore School. “As a distinguished alumna of the Moore School and a long-serving member of our board, Mary’s intimate understanding of our school and its needs makes her the perfect leader for our foundation at this critical juncture. We look forward to working closely with the Business Partnership Foundation as we bring the Moore School to new heights.”

Dr. Jerome D. Odom, executive director of the University of South Carolina Foundations, hails Kennemur as a visionary.

“Mary Kennemur is a ‘big picture’ individual who will quickly grasp the importance of all University Foundations working together to further the mission of the University of South Carolina,” Odom said.

BPF President Jim Hodges, former governor of South Carolina and CEO of Hodges Consulting Group in Columbia, cites Kennemur’s business acumen.

“We are fortunate to have someone of Mary’s experience and talent level join the Moore School team,” said Hodges. “She will play a key role in the Moore School’s outreach efforts to key business leaders in and out of South Carolina.”

A 1975 presidential honors graduate of the business school, Kennemur was named Distinguished Alumna in 2001. In 1998, she established the Mary M. Kennemur Scholarship at the Moore School..

Kennemur managed $90 billion in assets for Merrill Lynch during her tenure as regional managing director for the Southeast. She was one of only nine regional directors nationwide and the only female at that time. She also was responsible for leadership development for all regional directors across the Americas. Earlier in her career, she worked for South Carolina National Bank, Petro Lewis Corp. in Billings, Mont., and for Merrill Lynch in Colorado, Florida, Indiana and New York.

After 25 years on Wall Street, Kennemur said giving back to the community is motivating for her.

She was elected a trustee of the BPF in 2005. In addition, she was the first female member of the South Carolina Retirement Systems Investment Panel. She is a board member of the Regional Board of First National Bank of South Carolina and the United Way of the Midlands and is a member of the Advisory Treasury Services Committee of Palmetto Health. She also has worked with the university’s Development Foundation, the Governor’s School for Science and Mathematics, the Coastal Conservation League and the university’s Women’s Basketball Mentor Program.

Having co-chaired the United Way of the Midland’s most successful fundraising campaign ever, Kennemur is eager to work with the Moore School.

“For the business school to maintain preeminence, it is important to build a significant endowment and capital base in order to recruit and retain faculty and to create facilities that will attract these bright students,” said Kennemur.

“We have a wonderful story to tell and an exceptional product. Dean Teegen has an incredible vision for the future of our university. I look forward to partnering with her, with colleagues across the university and with supporters to make that vision a reality,” she said.

Kennemur said she is an advocate for a business education that fosters personal responsibility.

“This next generation of business leaders will have a broader focus than money….they will work toward goals such as environmental sustainability and economic inclusion,” said Kennemur, whose goals for a global economy parallel the Moore School’s new strategic direction of sustainable enterprise and development, announced earlier this year.