Leading With A Helping Hand

Mary Hutchings Cooper ’91 applies her talents in the corporate corridors of Manhattan, but also on the playgrounds of New York City neighborhoods. As a product manager with Thomson Reuters, she makes sure software is tailored to meet clients’ specifications. During personal time, the Cox School of Business alumna accomplishes volunteer projects as diverse as renovating a playground and mentoring teenage mothers.

Mary Hutchings Cooper (left) and other volunteers package toys for a holiday gift drive.

Cooper is a volunteer with more than 20 years of experience with the Junior League, a charitable organization of women that promotes voluntarism and community improvement, and was recognized by the New York Junior League with an Outstanding Volunteer award. Now a member of the New York Junior League’s Board of Managers, Cooper oversees recruiting and training of more than 350 new volunteers each year. The League partners with approximately 30 hospitals, women’s prisons, homeless shelters, schools and other entities.

Cooper’s mother has been a League member in Galveston, Texas, for nearly 50 years. “Her work inspired me, and I joined just out of college in 1985,” Cooper says. “One of my first projects after completing training was with Harlem teenagers who tutored younger children.”

While earning her M.B.A., Cooper transferred her Junior League membership to Dallas and began volunteering at Bryan’s House, which provides medically managed care and services for children affected by HIV/AIDS and their families. Eventually she was invited to serve on its board as the League representative.
“Each week we prepared a hot meal and played with the kids,” Cooper says. “Their smiles were so heartwarming, and sometimes heartbreaking. But they loved it when the Junior League ladies visited, and the experience was extremely moving and gratifying.”

Business school taught her much about teamwork. “We had to work together for a project to succeed,” she says. “I saw how one person’s weakness would be another’s strength. Everybody can bring something to the table.”

She calls on her volunteer instincts at work by leading an annual community events week committee, which selects volunteer projects for the company to sponsor. During the week, employees are encouraged to take a day off for volunteering.

One of Cooper’s most meaningful volunteer experiences was a weeklong trip to Sri Lanka in 2005 to assist Habitat for Humanity. On the trip, which was sponsored by her employer, teams helped to build five homes to replace those lost in the 2004 tsunami. Her team worked alongside local masons mixing cement for bricks and building foundations.

She has come to define leadership – both as a volunteer and in the workplace – as understanding that being in charge doesn’t mean you must know or do everything. “It’s okay to rely on others,” Cooper says. “It guides and develops them and keeps you open to new ideas.”

– Cherri Gann