Mary Beth Powers

Mary Beth Powers | President & CEO, CMMB

CMMB chief executive officer Mary Beth Powers brings deep experiential understanding and a commitment to maternal and child health. Her strategic and operational experiences span 30 years, including field work serving refugees in Pakistan and program design and evaluation in more than 25 countries. Her skills span sectors of strategic planning, programmatic and technical support in the field, managing corporate and foundation partnerships, donor engagement and network building.

At CMMB, Mary Beth leads a team of professionals, who deliver an annual average of $400 million worth of pharmaceuticals and medical supplies to clinics, hospitals, and ministries of health globally. As a 110-year-old faith-inspired organization, CMMB is also a leader in programming that strengthens local health systems and puts community members at the center of health care planning. Inspired by the organization’s values of love and respect for all, Mary Beth continues to strengthen CMMB’s commitment to local partnerships and the dignified delivery of care, improving sustainable health outcomes in entire communities.

Prior to joining CMMB, Mary Beth served as the Vice President of Programs at Dalio Philanthropies, a private family foundation that has given $1 billion to a variety of program areas. In this role, she led the grant making team who manage support to organizations addressing health and wellness, ocean discovery, financial inclusion, and community building.

Mary Beth was previously the CEO of SeriousFun Children’s Network, a network of camps founded by Paul Newman to provide opportunities for children with life-limiting illnesses to test their limits and build resilience. In addition to building strong interconnectedness among the member camps, she was able to bring new corporate partners to the mission in support of the children and their families.

Prior to 2014, Mary Beth spent the majority of her career supporting maternal and child programs and initiatives in more than 25 countries around the world. In experience linked to the CMMB mission, she was the Chief of the Newborn & Child Survival Campaign, a program and policy initiative of Save the Children. While at Save the Children, she helped launch and was the founding chair of the Frontline Health Workers Coalition which continues to advocate for support of Frontline Health Workers who serve to protect basic health needs around the world.

Mary Beth began her career with Catholic Relief Services in Pakistan and after a degree in public health, she joined Save the Children providing program support for health projects. After a position where she led health programs at CARE, Mary Beth returned to Save the Children to build their maternal child health work and helped design and launch the Gates-funded Saving Newborn Lives project.

She has lived and worked in Egypt, Pakistan, and Thailand and studied at the University of the West Indies in Kingston, Jamaica between her undergraduate degree at Georgetown’s School of Foreign Service and her graduate work in public health at the University of Michigan.

Mary Beth was named to the national 2023 Forbes 50 Over 50 list for her exceptional leadership and dedication to making a positive impact around the world. Mary Beth was also recently awarded a Doctor of Laws honorary degree from Fairfield University in Fairfield, Connecticut, in recognition of her advocacy in global health, along with the faith-inspired perspective she brings to the field.