Monday, October 21, 2013 - Mara Sovey, John Deere Foundation
Mara Sovey, President of the John Deere Foundation will be the guest speaker on Monday, October 21. Mara will provide an update on the John Deere Foundation and Deere’s corporate citizenship efforts.
Mara Sovey is the President of the John Deere Foundation and Director of Global Citizenship at John Deere. In this capacity Mara is responsible for further developing and executing John Deere’s strategy for corporate citizenship, philanthropy and volunteerism on a global basis. She serves as the company’s primary representative to many key economic development and non-profit organizations in the company’s worldwide headquarters area. Working with the Chairman of the John Deere Foundation and its board of directors, Mara determines the most effective ways of supporting key programs in education, community development and solutions for world hunger.
In her previous position as Director, International Affairs, Mara successfully led the development and implementation of the Global Public Affairs Council in addition to working on international trade and regulatory policy, export finance and business development issues in global markets. In a prior role as Manager, State Public Affairs, she was responsible for state advocacy efforts in several states in addition to the coordination of Public Affairs Worldwide Communications and the John Deere Political Action Committee (JDPAC). Mara began her career with Deere in the Tax Department in 2000.
Mara earned a B.A. in Accounting from St. Ambrose University in 1998 and completed her M.B.A. at the J.L. Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University in 2007.