Mary Seawell has lived in neighborhoods throughout Denver, starting with Park Hill when she was three years old.  She has lived in Capitol Hill, West Wash Park and Mayfair.  In 1995 she and her husband, Lee Ferguson, purchased their first home in West Highlands.  She moved back to Northeast Denver six years ago and lives in Stapleton with her husband and three daughters. Their oldest daughter is in 3^rd grade at a DPS school.  They also have four-year old twins.

Professional Background

Mary has 15 years experience in nonprofit management and community engagement.  Her first professional job was with the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment where she was the community involvement coordinator for the neighborhoods surrounding the Rocky Mountain Arsenal.  With community members from Montbello and Green Valley Ranch she started a medical monitoring advisory group to study health impacts related to living adjacent to the Arsenal. While in law school Mary taught Street Law at North High School, teaching students how to apply the law in their own lives.  In 2000 she was awarded a grant from the Ford Foundation to evaluate a legal aid clinic in Uganda, East Africa, a country with no public defender system.  She is the former executive director of Judi’s House and the Judith Ann Griese Foundation.

Education Experience

As the Executive Director of the Sturm Family Foundation and a member of the Tough Schools Partnership, Mary first learned about the importance of different school models in providing a high quality education to low-income children.  In that capacity she evaluated charter schools and learned predictive indicators important in understanding why some schools succeed and others fail.  Mary has spent the last year creating an MBA in School Leadership at the University of Denver.  The degree’s purpose is to provide entrepreneurial educators with a solid background in finance, marketing, real estate and personnel management to open new schools serving low-income children.

As a mother, Mary has volunteered in her daughter’s schools.  She developed the first direct giving program for Westerly Creek Elementary.  With a group of smart, well-organized and dedicated mothers, Westerly Creek was able to raise funds to support art, physical education and additional paraprofessionals in the school’s classrooms.  She was on the community planning team to define the mission and culture of William Roberts K-8.  She is on the Boards of Directors for the Odyssey School, the Denver Language School and the Bluff Lake Nature Center.  Mary is a news junkie, an active runner and a mediocre fiction writer.