Putting Down Roots

St. Mary’s College Gave Mary Grube the Opportunity to Grow

Higher education facilities management is often about keeping buildings running. For Mary Grube, it’s also about building people, careers, and community. Now the Assistant Vice President of Finance at St. Mary’s College of Maryland, Mary’s journey is a story of professional transformation and the power of place, persistence, and purpose.

A Career That Grew on Campus

Mary Grube’s professional story is rooted in one place: St. Mary’s College of Maryland. She started her career at the campus bookstore, working as operations manager. She speaks fondly of how the job allowed her to connect directly with students and keep a pulse on what was happening around campus, something that would serve her well in the future. It also gave her a taste of how higher education operates behind the scenes.

Over the next two decades, Mary earned both her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in accounting and finance at the University of Maryland Global Campus while climbing the ladder from bookstore staff to projects manager in the facilities office to her current role in the budgeting and finance office. Her steady rise was driven by a simple question: “What’s the next challenge for me?”

Branching Out

Mary’s introduction to APPA came courtesy of a colleague who saw something in her. Dan Branigan, then Director of Capital Planning at St. Mary’s College, invited her to attend her first Eastern Regional APPA conference. It was her first professional trip, and a first step into a much larger world.

“It was a game-changer,” Mary said of her experience at that first conference. “I had a network. I had people I could call when I had a question. It opened doors I didn’t know existed.”

What started as a one-time conference soon became a passion. Mary joined her local APPA chapter, served on multiple committees, and eventually was elected to President. Today, she is the incoming President of the Eastern Regional APPA chapter, a role that her past self, attending that first conference, couldn’t have imagined.

“I never thought I’d be a public speaker. I hated it,” she admits. “Now, I’ve presented at multiple conferences. I’ve learned that I can lead.”

Supporting the Growth of Others

Mary is quick to credit those who lifted her up—Dan Branigan, Sheri Vucci and Arthur Walsh, in particular. But she’s also embraced her role as a mentor. In her current position, she champions professional development and believes strongly in providing her team with opportunities to attend conferences that might open doors for them, like attending APPA many years ago did for her.

“We expect people to come back and share what they learned,” Mary explained. “The value is in what they bring back to the team.”

She looks for team members to not just learn and grow at a conference themselves, but to provide actionable information that will benefit the whole team and present what they learned when they return. Whether it’s a new strategy, a different way of looking at a problem, or a model they can replicate, she looks at conferences as an opportunity for developing both on an individual and team level.

Reaching to the Future

At St. Mary’s College, Mary plays a key role in campus planning and budgeting. The school, located in a historically significant area of Maryland, balances its charm with a need to modernize. From updating residence halls to expanding campus technology, Mary relies on her ability to keep an ear to the ground and a pulse on campus to ensure facilities evolve with student expectations.

“I love this place,” she said. “It gave me my career. And now I get to help shape its future.”