Community leader to be honored by Women’s Leadership Council

By Mark Muckenfuss

Mary Adams kind of thought her days of receiving awards were over. 

The former Monterey County supervisor retired a little more than a year ago after garnering a slew of accolades for her work over a 30-year career, both in government and the nonprofit sector. 

On Thursday, March 12, Adams will be given the Woman of Distinction award at the Women’s Leadership Council annual luncheon, being held this year at the new Courtyard by Marriott hotel in Sand City. The event helps highlight Women’s History Month. The council is dedicated to supporting educational opportunities for re-entry students at Cal State Monterey Bay.

“It’s an incredible honor,” Adams said. “The women who have received it before me, I can’t believe I’m in the same category. It’s humbling.”

The Kentucky native was a recent high school graduate when her family moved to Monterey in 1965. Several years later, she graduated from St. Mary’s College with a business degree. But rather than enter the commercial world, she chose public sector work and never changed course. 

She was a lobbyist for both the American Heart Association and the American Cancer Society, focusing on tobacco-related issues, including legislation. She said it was estimated that 250,000 lives were saved through the work she and her team did.  

She also served as vice president for programming for the National Diabetes Foundation before taking the helm of the United Way of Monterey County, where she spent 14 years. During that time, she helped raise $50 million for community programs. 

Adams said getting involved in community service was always a part of her life. 

“The raising of the hand started at a very early age as a disciple of my mother,” she said. “I remember going with her on the Mother’s March of Dimes,” a national fundraising campaign to fight polio.

She also volunteered for the Red Cross when she was young.

As an adult, she said, “It wasn’t like I had a real plan. I think I just had a natural ability to see strategic problem-solving.”

Adams oversaw Monterey County’s 5th District as a supervisor from 2016-2024, which covers the Monterey Peninsula and the western region of the county, including Monterey, Carmel and Big Sur. Along with helping to coordinate responses to disasters such as wildfires, flooding and mudslides, infrastructure damage, and the Covid-19 pandemic, she maintained a focus on addressing water and housing issues.   

Both the Monterey County Commission on the Status of Women and CSUMB’s College of Business presented her with Woman of the Year awards.  

The award she will receive from the Women’s Leadership Council is special, she said. 

“To have the women of the leadership council feel that I would be deserving of this award was really, really touching to me,” Adams said. “At every single table, I’m sure there will be a woman who had an impact on me.”

She’s particularly happy to receive the recognition during Women’s History Month, an annual acknowledgement she called “extremely important.”

“It’s critical that young girls and women understand that they are important,” she said, adding that they should also understand the history behind the opportunities they now enjoy, herself included. “I stand on the shoulders of women who went before me.” 

The luncheon begins at 11 a.m. Tickets are $150 per person.

Two other CSUMB-related events will mark Women’s History Month.

On Friday, March 6, the International Women’s Day Summit will be held at the Otter Student Union from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. The third annual summit features workshops, dialogues, speakers and other events that celebrate women and gender-expansive individuals. Led by community members and experts in the field, the workshops will focus on the theme "Gain to Give." Check the event page for the latest information on the agenda, workshop facilitators and to register.

On Wednesday evening, March 18, the College of Business will launch the Women in Venture Capital initiative, sponsored by the iiED, the Institute for Innovation and Economic Development.  Executive champions Hilary Bryant and May Roen will lead the celebration, which features a panel discussion and is scheduled from 5-8:30 in the Alumni and Visitors Center. Tickets are $75, and the public is invited.