maryanne@georgiahealthinitative.org 

Mary Anne Ericson serves as Chief Operating Officer with the Initiative. In joining the team, she brings more than 20 years of experience driving strategic growth, operational excellence, and health equity impact across Georgia and beyond.

Mary Anne’s career has been defined by a passion for advancing health equity — with particular depth in cancer care, mental health, and community-based care — across both private and nonprofit sectors. She has worked at organizations including Eli Lilly, the American Cancer Society, Wellstar Foundation, and CARE. Immediately prior to joining the Initiative, Mary Anne was Associate Vice President and Head of Operations, Planning, and Analysis with CARE. In this capacity, Mary Anne led strategy, planning, budgeting, performance reporting, and evaluation for CARE’s Resource Development department, serving as a trusted advisor to CARE’s leadership. In addition to implementing and overseeing the department’s operations and systems processes related to grants management and stewardship initiatives, Mary Anne also strengthened the department’s organizational culture through training, peer recognition, and other cross-team efforts that she spearheaded.

Mary Anne leads with warmth and authenticity, bringing a collaborative and people-centered approach to everything she does. She believes organizations thrive when three things work in concert — a clear strategic vision to set the direction, strong systems to execute efficiently, and a vibrant culture that keeps people engaged, accountable, and motivated to do their best work.

Mary Anne earned her Master of Business Administration with Honors from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University and a Bachelor of Science in Economics and Environmental Science from Stanford University.