Mary Crawford

Former YWCA NYC Board Chair and Philanthropist
Distinguished Service Award

Mary Crawford is a former co-chair of the YWCA-NYC Board of Directors. She served on the board for 15 years and she stepped in to be the interim leader of the organization during the CEO transition in 2021-2022. She began her career as a Research Assistant at the Joint Economic Committee of Congress in Washington and then spent 30 years in financial services, mostly at American Express, where she had responsibilities in banking, finance, operations, and strategic planning in New York, London and Shanghai. At American Express she was heavily involved in pioneering work on the migration of operations to India and Philippines and she directed startup operations for a global processing center in China. She holds a B.A. in Economics from Rhodes College, an M.B.A. from the Wharton School and a Master of Public Health from Columbia University.

Mary and her husband, Calvin Mew, are the host family for two young women from Afghanistan who came to the United States for high school and recently graduated from Trinity College in Connecticut and Bates College in Maine. Mary describes this experience of hosting two courageous young Afghan women as opening her eyes wider to the tragedy of shutting off pathways for girls to pursue their dreams – not just in Afghanistan where the Taliban regime has outlawed education for girls above grade six and banished women from the workplace – but in places of great wealth like NYC where systemic inequities mean too many girls are underestimated, underserved, and blocked in achieving their potential.

Mary has taught in a job re-entry program for justice involved people through the Exodus Transition Community in NYC, and she serves on the board of Maryville College in her hometown of Maryville, TN. Mary was a long-time board member and officer of Helen Keller International which works to prevent blindness and malnutrition across Africa, Asia and the US. She has also recently served as Moderator of Norfield Congregational Church in Weston, CT. Calvin and Mary like to run and bike in Riverside Park near their home in Manhattan.