Mary
Maxon
Carnegie Science Executive Vice President Mary Maxon joined the organization in November 2024 from the Biosciences Institute at Schmidt Sciences. She has worked in the public and private sectors.
Overview
Mary Maxon is Executive Vice President at Carnegie Sciences. Previously she was Executive Director of the Biosciences Institute at Schmidt Sciences, where she led a new effort to seed the next wave of innovation in synthetic biology and the bioeconomy. Prior to that, she was Associate Laboratory Director for Biosciences at Lawrence Berkeley National Lab.
Maxon has worked in the private sector, both in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries, as well as the public sector, highlighted by her tenure as the Assistant Director for Biological Research at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) in the Executive Office of the President where she was the principal author of the Obama Administration’s National Bioeconomy Blueprint.
She is a member of the International Advisory Council on Global Bioeconomy, a steering committee member of the Organisation of Economic Development’s Biotechnology, Nanotechnology, and Converging Technologies Working Party, and serves as a biotechnology subject matter expert for Eric Schmidt, a Commissioner on the National Security Commission on Emerging Biotechnology.
In addition to being a member of the Board of Trustees of Carnegie Science, she is also a member of the National Academy of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine's Standing Committee on Advances and National Security Implications of Transdisciplinary Biotechnology, and a member of the Vision for American Science and Technology (VAST) Task Force.
She earned her Ph.D. in Molecular Cell Biology from the University of California, Berkeley and completed her postdoctoral studies in genetics at the University of California, San Francisco.
CV
• Flexible Leadership & Team Management
• Bioeconomy Strategy & Synthetic Biology
• Stakeholder Relations & Partner Building
• Strategic Plans & Programs Development
• Coordination & Operational Oversight
• Academic Publishing & Report Writing
• Collaboration & Performance Metrics
• Scientific & Technological Advancement
• Elected AAAS Fellow, Societal Impacts of Science and Engineering, American Association for the Advancement of Science – 2020
• Recipient of Berkeley Lab’s Women@TheLab Award – 2018
• Recipient of Berkeley Lab’s Director’s Award for Exceptional Achievement – 2014
• The first recipient of the OSTP Award for Excellence – 2012
• Helen Hay Whitney Foundation Postdoctoral Research Fellowship – 1995 to 1998
• American Cancer Society Postdoctoral Fellowship – 1998 to 1999
• University of California, Berkeley, CA, 1994
Ph.D., Department of Molecular and Cell Biology
Thesis - Cloning and characterization of the human transcription factor IIE
• State University of New York, Albany, NY 1984
Bachelor of Science in Biology and Chemistry
• National Science Foundation Biological Sciences Advisory Committee - Current
• National Security Commission on Emerging Biotechnology, staff designee to Commissioner Eric Schmidt – Current
• National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, Committee on Biotechnology Capabilities for National Security Needs –
Current
• Scientific Advisory Council Forschungszentrum Jülich – Current
• Carnegie Institution for Science, Board of Trustees – Current
• International Advisory Council of the Global Bioeconomy Summit – Current
• Economic Cooperation and Development’s Biotechnology, Nanotechnology, Convergence Technologies Working Party, U.S. Delegate –
Current
Co-authored OECD Publications:
o Carbon Management: Bioeconomy and Beyond (2023) OECD Publishing, Paris. https://doi.org/10.1787/b5ace135-en
o Collaborative Platforms for Emerging Technology: Creating Convergence Spaces (2021) OECD Publishing, Paris.
https://doi.org/10.1787/ed1e030d-en
o Times of Crisis and Opportunity (2021) OECD Publishing, Paris. https://doi.org/10.1787/75f79015-en
o Innovation Ecosystems in the Bioeconomy (2019) OECD Publishing, Paris. https://doi.org/10.1787/e2e3d8a1-en
• Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Senior Leadership Committee, Berkeley Lab – ended 2021
• American Association for the Advancement of Science Committee on Science, Engineering, and Public Policy, Chair – ended 2021
• Executive Sponsor, Lambda Alliance Employee Resource Group, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory – ended 2021
• National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, Committee: Safeguarding the Bioeconomy – ended 2020
• National Academies Board on Life Sciences – ended 2020
• Carnegie Institution for Science, Advisory Committee – ended 2019
• Governor’s Precision Medicine Advisory Committee – ended 2019
• California Science Policy Fellows Advisory Committee – ended 2019
• National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, Committee: Revitalizing Graduate STEM Education for the 21st Century –
ended 2018
• National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, Committee: Preparing for Future Products of Biotechnology – ended 2017
• Academic Committee of the California Initiative to Advance Precision Medicine – ended 2017