Mary MacPherson serves as President and CEO of the US-based Slovak-American Foundation (SAF).  An executive with corporate experience at Apple Computer, Blackboard and Verizon, her work in the non-profit sector over the last 25 years has been in building entrepreneurial ecosystems and working with early-stage companies and scale-ups and their stakeholders.  SAF’s US Connections program was launched in 2014 to identify and support promising Slovak tech entrepreneurs who were entering US markets. Eighteen Slovak companies make up the US Connections portfolio spanning a wide range of innovative technologies. While based in the US, Ms. MacPherson has been actively involved in the startup related programs in Slovakia and advises a number of Slovak companies and organizations.  She was honored to receive a Lifetime Achievement Award for her work from US Embassy Bratislava in 2022 and the prestigious Woodrow Wilson Award from the Slovak Embassy in Washington DC in 2018 for her contribution to the development of Slovak-American relations.