Mary Jennings Mahon is a wife and mother of two adult children. She and her husband live in Hartsdale, New York. Mary is a lawyer, community activist, and an expert on government operations.

Born in the Bay Ridge section of Brooklyn, the eldest of seven children, Mary attended the local Catholic elementary school, followed by Bishop Kearney High School. Upon graduation, she attended New York University for two years. In 1968, she transferred to Sarah Lawrence College in the Lawrence Park section of Yonkers, from where she graduated in 1970.

Prior to attending law school, Mary took a secretarial position at Smith Barney. She was quickly promoted and assigned responsibility for the firm’s advertising program, a position she maintained while attending Fordham Law School. In her last year of law school, she transferred to Smith Barney’s Compliance Department where she reported to the General Counsel. She joined Smith Barney’s legal department following her graduation from Fordham Law School in 1975, and remained there for the next ten years. During that time, she reported to the General Counsel, as she assumed responsibility for virtually all aspects of broker dealer regulation, eventually becoming manager of the legal department and Vice President. She was honored as one of the YWCA’s Academy of Woman Achievers.

Mary married Fordham classmate James Mahon in 1975 and upon the birth of their second child in 1986, Mary left Smith Barney. During the next eight years, Mary engaged in community service, heading at various times her tenants’ association and the parents’ association at her sons’ school. Mary and her husband also became active in Manhattan’s East Side Republican party, and worked on behalf of Republican candidates in city, state and federal elections. She served as a member of Manhattan’s Community Board 6, as well as a member of the New York Republican Committee. In recent years, Mary has worked with the Irish American Republicans and the New York Republican Lawyers Committee, working on Election Day activities in the New York gubernatorial elections and in Cleveland in the 2004 Presidential election. With the Irish American Republicans, she has attended several St. Patrick’s Day receptions at the White House.

Mary resumed her legal career in 1994, when she was named General Counsel of New York City’s Community Development Agency, the mayoral agency responsible for distributing federal funds to community-based organizations that serve residents of low income areas throughout New York City.

In 1996, Mary joined the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (the “MTA”) as its First Deputy General Counsel, where she oversaw the sale of the Coliseum and the redevelopment of Grand Central. In 1999, Mary was promoted to Deputy Executive Director and General Counsel of the MTA. As the Chief Legal Officer for the MTA and its operating affiliates, Mary was responsible for the Real Estate Department, Civil Rights Office and Records Management. She directed a staff of 115 and an annual budget of $21 million.

In 2003, she was named General Counsel of the Long Island Rail Road (“LIRR“), the largest commuter rail system in the US, and an operating subsidiary of the MTA. At both the MTA and LIRR, Mary provided legal counsel on major projects such as East Side Access, the plan to bring LIRR trains to Grand Central. At the LIRR she directed all litigation, including labor, employment, transactional and tort. She provided counsel to the President and executive staff relating to compliance with federal and state regulations, procurements, employment practice and policies.

Shortly after joining the MTA, Mary and her family moved from Manhattan to Westchester County. She and her husband live in Hartsdale in the town of Greenburgh.