MaryJane Mudd, Class XVIII
MaryJane Mudd is the Executive Director of the East Harris County Manufacturers Association (EHCMA), a coalition of 115 plant sites at the largest petrochemical complex in the world, managed by corporations dedicated to providing jobs, upholding environmental standards, and providing a better quality of life for their neighbors in and around the Greater Houston area. MaryJane was the first executive director to create a strategic plan for EHCMA and ensured Diversity, Equity and Inclusion was a core value. She leads the organization’s efforts to implement DEI with representation on the Board of Directors and EHCMA committees.
MaryJane is an award-winning professional communicator whose work in stakeholder engagement, crisis communications, media relations, and issues management has positively impacted global corporations and nonprofits alike. She led regional American Red Cross Public Affairs activities during Hurricane Harvey, helping shape the narrative by participating in approximately 60 media interviews, including CBS, ABC, NPR, the Wall Street Journal, and USA Today.
She was recently the President of the League of Women Voters of Houston (LWV-Houston) and has long been an advocate for voter empowerment, women’s rights, and the rights of the disabled. During the 2020 election season, MaryJane led LWV-Houston in its voter registration and “get out the vote” efforts. This included the nonpartisan Voters Guide, which was made available to all Houstonians in four languages. In April 2022 she was elected to serve on the League of Women Voters of Texas Board of Directors.
MaryJane has held leadership positions for the American Marketing Association, Leadership Houston, Purdue University Parent and Family Advisory Council, and the National Tuberous Sclerosis Complex (TSC) Alliance, and was selected as a “Table Talk Conversationalist” for the exclusive University of Houston Women’s Studies Annual Luncheon in 2019 and 2020. For more than two decades, MaryJane has lobbied Congress for research funding for TSC, a genetic disease from which her oldest daughter suffers, causing mental impairment, autism, epilepsy, and premature mortality. The fierce advocacy of MaryJane and other parents has resulted in $97 million in appropriated funds since 2001, positively impacting research on TSC as well as related diseases like cancer.
MaryJane is frequently tapped as a motivational and keynote speaker on topics ranging from crisis communications and disaster response to special needs parenting, and in January 2022 created a 300-member women’s group for recreational networking and personal growth. She is a longtime resident of Houston and married with three daughters.