Attending The College of William and Mary in Virginia, George Mason University, and University of Texas, she earned a BA with a double major in Spanish/Portuguese and Latin American Humanities.  After moving to England, she earned an MA in International Education ( University of Bath). In 2018 Mary started her doctoral studies in International Education at the University of Bath and has focused her studies on the themes related to the International Baccalaureate schools and programmes.  Her thesis research is focusing on the question ‘To what extent do international schools support multilingualism?’. 

As Deputy Executive Director of the European Council of International Schools (ECIS) from 2007-2011, amongst other responsibilities, she had oversight of the ECIS EAL/Mother Tongue Committee (one of 32 ECIS professional committees).  She represented ECIS attending professional development conferences of other regional international education organisations including SGIS (Swiss Group of International Schools),  Nordic Network in Oslo, TAISI (The Association of International Schools in India), ELSA (English Language Schools Association), LISA (London International Schools Association), and the AIE (Alliance for International Education)

.

She also managed the ECIS International Teacher Certificate (ITC) in collaboration with University of Cambridge International Exams, and served as an instructor at the week-long ITC Institutes hosted by international schools worldwide, addressing the areas of language issues (second language learners, multilingualism, mother tongue), mobility and transition. She also negotiated masters-level credit recognition for the ITC from 6 UK, US and Australian universities, and recognition from the International Baccalaureate Organisation for the ITC as equivalent to the IB Teacher Certificate (IBPYP, IBMYP, IBDP), the first and only non-university pathway to that certification.   (She later became an ITC examiner with Cambridge International Exams.)

In 2012, as an independent consultant, Mary worked for two years with four founding parents to open the new Halcyon London International School, the first not-for-profit international IB World School (MYP and DP) in Central London, and through ILLTC she and Gracia managed Halcyon’s mother tongue language programme for its first two years.

Since 2013 she has been a Visiting Lecturer for the International Honours Teaching Degree programme (formerly ITEPS) at University College Zealand (now Absalon University) in Denmark. Currently she works as a consultant with the team providing online training for teachers on EAL and multilingualism education for EAL teachers and leads in schools based in Southeast Asia, the Middle East, Europe, Spain and Latin America with Across Cultures. 

Mary has also served on 20 multi-agency international school accreditation visiting teams (including four bilingual teams) doing ten-year, five-year, preparatory and special visits for the European Council of International Schools, Council of International Schools, New England Association of Schools and Colleges, Middle States Association of Schools and Colleges, and the IBO. 

Mary’s articles have been published in Britain, Europe, the Far East, and in the USA; she was a contributing author in International Education: Principles and Practice (Sage), The Essential Guide for International School Teachers (John Catt), and Effective Marketing, Communications and Development (John Catt Effective International Schools Series). She is also a consulting editor for The Good Schools Guide and The Good Schools Guide International (online) specialising in international and French curriculum boarding and day schools  in greater London, and private boarding and day schools in the Washington, DC area. She has written academic peer book reviews about trilingualism, international teacher education, teaching assistants in international schools, women’s universities and colleges worldwide, teaching EAL in mainstream classrooms, and Third Culture Kids for Multilingual Matters (publishers), the Journal of Research in International Education (Sage), the International Schools Journal (ISJ) and IS Magazine.   She has also written for the Parents League Review (Parents League of New York), has been a regular contributor to American in Britain magazine, and since 2014 has authored the Education Section of The Expatriate Guides to Living in the UK.

Mary has spoken internationally to parent associations. teachers, school leaders and boards, admissions directors, relocation professionals, at international education and training conferences including regional educational conferences for international schools, but also the Foreign Service Youth Foundation, UK Diplomatic Service Family Association – DFSA,  Belgian Foreign Ministry, American Women’s Club of London, Shell Outpost, the European Bank of Reconstruction and Development, the European Banking Association, Association of Relocation Professionals – ARP, European Association of Relocation Agents – EURA,  FOCUS Information Services, University of Bath,  NALDIC (National Association for Language Development in the Curriculum, UK), Wellington College EdFest  (in UK and Shanghai) and Across Cultures. She has been interviewed for international expat blogs and podcasts, newspapers, radio and television on the subject of international education, the International Baccalaureate Programmes, and the effects of international mobility on children and families. In 2017 she led the ‘Role of Languages’ strand for the biennial conference of the Alliance for International Education in Amsterdam. 

Her work has taken her to over 90 international schools in the Middle and Far East, South and Southeast Asia, North Africa, Europe, and North, Central and South America. Having worked with hundreds of international families seeking international education for their multilingual children, Mary is acutely aware of the significance that international mobility and mother-tongue literacy development has in the educational careers of young people. This has motivated her to work with esteemed colleagues to develop the International Language and Literature Teachers’ Cooperative  providing mother tongue language support to hundreds of IB students living and studying outside their home countries.

Two of Mary’s greatest joys are:

• Seeing the blossoming and accomplishment of the thousands of young international school students who she has worked with over the years and who, though now scattered all over the globe, are truly global citizens doing so much to make the world a better place.
• The privilege of having met and become friends with so many inspiring international school colleagues who share in common a love of teaching young people worldwide.