Mary Jane Rynd, Virginia G. Piper Charitable Trust

Every year, InMedia Company dedicates the September edition of In Business Magazine to celebrate women who are making a difference in our community. This year, the focus is women who demonstrate great business success and give back. I am honored to be this year’s Lifetime Achievement Honoree and to lead this issue of In Business Magazine celebrating some of the Valley’s most talented leaders. Last March, when its cover story was “How Nonprofits Build Our Economy,” I also had the wonderful opportunity to be Guest Editor of that issue.

It is truly humbling to be named among the 15 women recognized for leadership and achievements that advance our region and state. There are so many women who are making a difference daily across all sectors — business, public and nonprofit. Arizona has “grown up” valuing women; our ideas, and our collective ability to press forward and progress. The Valley has a long history of women who have led and are leading in important ways. Virginia Galvin Piper, herself, fell in love with Maricopa County and decided this was the place she wanted to invest in. There is an openness here — an environment where women support women. Think of the recent merger of two significant community organizations, Alliance of Arizona Nonprofits and Arizona Grantmakers Forum — both led by accomplished women who will now be even more transformational together. We must continue to foster and celebrate creative approaches like this that will ultimately build strength and resilience in Arizona.

This edition’s cover story shares the stories of this year’s exceptional Women of Achievement – women who represent a broad cross-section of business and community organizations. This year’s event will honor these women and attendees will get to hear a few of them tell their stories of achievement from center stage. I hope you will join us.

Switching gears from strengths to weaknesses … Justin Rainey offers a warning look in feature article “Reduce the Risk of Business Email Compromise” at online payment fraud by which businesses could find their funds transferred out of their accounts. A strong culture where people are more connected to each other is one way to mitigate that danger, and Katie Dufort explores options toward that goal in her feature “Next-Level Team Building to Enhance Company Culture.”

Of course, staffing shortages also impact those issues, and there is much attention now on that being a problem for many businesses. Jill Johnson looks at internal, external and other solutions to staffing shortages in feature article, “Look Both Ways Before Hiring.”

Guest columnist Bruce Weber examines a key ingredient of growth and success in his feature article “Leading from Abundance – The Power of Positivity.”

In Business Magazine continues to develop a broad view on business-relevant information to help strengthen our Valley’s business community, including recognizing nonprofits as the important business endeavors they are. With this month’s tremendous range of topics, I hope you enjoy this September edition of In Business Magazine. 

Sincerely,

Mary Jane Rynd
President and CEO
Virginia G. Piper Charitable Trust

Mary Jane Rynd joined Virginia G. Piper Charitable Trust in 2001 as its first CFO, then executive vice president; she was named the Trust’s president and CEO in 2018. A CPA (Ret.), she was a partner with KPMG and also Rynd, Carneal & Ewing. A member of Greater Phoenix Leadership serving on the Arts and Culture Task Force, she is also on the Rosenbluth Family Charitable Foundation board. She holds a B.A. in accounting from the University of St. Thomas in Houston, Texas, and a Master of Professional Accounting from the University of Texas at Austin.