In Mary Allen Waller’s former role as director of accounting and finance business process at Markel, she helped Vice President Bruce Kay and CFO Anne Waleski assess charitable requests and manage the company’s employee matching gifts program. After both retired from Markel last spring, the company created a new full-time position — global director of community engagement — and Waller, a 20-year Markel veteran, was tapped for the role. She’ll now work with 73 insurance offices in 2l countries around the world. Waller is looking forward to meeting the members of site-based giving committees that will review all by-invitation local grant requests at Markel offices. “It’s very important to put the power of philanthropy into our employees’ hands,” she says.
Waller brings the insight of community board service to her role. She was on the board of CancerLINC for six years. She also was a mentor for Partnership for the Future’s high school students and a school lunch buddy at St. Andrew’s School, and she subsequently became a board member at both nonprofits.
As a graduate of the Leadership Metro Richmond (LMR) class of 2018, she gained an even broader understanding of the importance of community engagement. “At Markel we have a commitment to our community,” she says. “It is reflected in our culture statement which we call the Markel Style, and in our long history of philanthropy. The LMR experience underscores that philosophy.” In addition to Markel’s philanthropy, Waller is proud to be involved in the company’s employee networks, from the women’s network to the veterans’ network and others currently in the development stage.
Waller’s most significant mentor at Markel was Waleski, who’s now working with Steve and Kathie Markel on the Church Hill North Initiative. “I’ve landed where I’ve landed because of her,” Waller says. “She made it possible for me to serve in this role. And my greatest hope is that I’ll be able to expand on the philanthropic legacy of Markel.”
