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Mary
Jean Eisenhower,
President and CEO of People to People International
(PTPI), was born in Washington, D.C. during her
grandfather, Dwight D. Eisenhower’s first term in
office as President of the United States. She was
christened in the Blue Room of the White House and
grew up in nearby Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. Mary
attended several schools in Pennsylvania until her
father, John, was named as US Ambassador to
Belgium. She lived in Brussels with her family from
shortly after her grandfather’s death in 1969
through 1972.
Career endeavors have included Capital Hill as a
receptionist and assistant case worker for a
congressman, eight years in the commercial
photographic industry as a senior customer service
representative and 13 years as the manager of an
engineering firm. She has sat on numerous Boards;
other professional and volunteer affiliations are
available upon request. Recently she completed a
Fellowship at Stanford University, Palo Alto,
California, USA.
Since joining PTPI, Mary has traveled extensively
throughout the US, Africa, Europe and Asia. Over the
last four years she has left US soil 38 times and
visited over 40 countries. Missions have included
everything from meeting first families to
distributing foodstuffs in developing countries to
cultural and humanitarian exchange
In
1999 she started the PTPI Friendship Fund inspired
by an orphanage she visited in Morocco. The fund is
designed as a way for people to help the friends and
facilities they visit throughout the world and to
help the PTPI Chapter network to assist each other.
To date the fund has been able to provide assistance
to causes such as the Global Humanitarian
Eradication of Landmines, Children’s Mercy Hospital
in London, England, Earthquake relief in India,
disaster relief to victims of September 11, 2001 and
their families, support of underprivileged schools
in China and Sri Lanka, a home for leukemia victims
and their families in Cuba, a library project in
Viet Nam, Friends of Egypt, among many others.
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