Professional Philosophy

Mary Sue McCarthy, CPF, CTM, is a certified professional facilitator and certified transformative mediator trained to facilitate group dialogue as a “third party neutral”. She works with her clients to ensure that all stakeholder voices are heard and recognized. In her earlier career as a Pr and Marketing professional she sat through one too many disempowering meetings that left participants sidelined, confused and even angry. She came to understand that the widespread use of Roberts Rules of Order or the idea that majority rules does work well some of the time but certainly not all of the time!

Mary Sue sets the context for a "focused conversation" at the
Creative Alliance Board/Staff retreat, February, 2009

Known for her work with strategic visioning, she is a firm believer that people can indeed find common ground while honoring diversity and dissent. This belief, coupled with her natural inclination to build alignment and help parties work toward a common goal, prompted Mary Sue in the second stage of her career to become a student and facilitator of the strategic visioning process and the transformative approach to conflict resolution.

Mary Sue has assisted a variety of clients with event planning, fundraising, communications and image building. She combines her past expertise with her current interests to facilitate conversations to create marketing plans, raise money, execute special events, and generate publicity. A graduate of Ohio Wesleyan University, her diverse career background has been developed through a variety of positions, including titles such as the Executive Director of Baltimore Operation Sail, the Director of Public Relations for the Pride of Baltimore 11, President of McCarthy Communications, Inc., and Project Manager for the Fish Out of Water Campaign.

Mary Sue lives in Baltimore with her husband Bill Hopkinson with whom she has climbed all 46 Adirondack High Peaks. In her free time she is often found competing her Dressage horse “Finnegans Wake” a.k.a. Finney.

For more information on Mary Sue’s mediation practice please visit www.EquusMediation.com