Leadership Partners

Mary Crowley McDonald is the Founder and CEO of MCD Partners, a national consulting company that provides a broad range of services for educational consulting and models for success. Dr. McDonald has received national acclaim as an innovative educator, published author, and public speaker.  She has been a professional educator for thirty-seven years as a teacher, principal, and most recently, as Superintendent of Catholic Schools for the Diocese of Memphis for fourteen years. She retired from this position in June, 2012, in order to continue in the field of education as a Consultant, and public speaker. She is hosted the weekly talk show, "Seize the Day” on CBS affiliate KWAM 990 AM, and writes a regular column for the Memphis Daily News.

As Superintendent of Schools for the Diocese of Memphis, Dr. McDonald was responsible for overseeing all aspects of the system of Catholic Schools in the Diocese of Memphis, as well as for the creation of the Jubilee Catholic Schools, eight long-closed Catholic schools that were reopened in the inner-city of Memphis under her leadership.  As the architect of the Jubilee Schools, her responsibility included the development of the infrastructure and governance model, as well as ongoing oversight, and ensuring academic excellence and accountability for the schools.  During her tenure the Catholic schools experienced unprecedented growth, expanding in number from 14 to 29, including new schools in urban, as well as suburban, areas, and the highest enrollment since the 1970’s.

Dr. McDonald is very involved in the community, locally as well as nationally and has served on the Governor’s (TN) Task Force on Opportunity Scholarships (Vouchers), The Mayor’s (Memphis) Advisory Council on Education, the Board of the Society of Entrepreneurs, the National Catholic Educational Association Strategic Planning Task Force, the Independence Mission Schools Board in Philadelphia,  the Board of the Urban Child Institute in Memphis, Immaculata University; Founder and Past President of Diversity Memphis, among others.

Dr. McDonald was a featured speaker at the White House Summit on Urban Education, and the Keynote speaker at the 2012 National Catholic Educational Association Convention. She is the recipient of numerous awards in recognition of her work in education, humanitarian efforts and leadership. In 2013, she was named one of the Superwomen in Business by the Memphis Business Journal, and in 2014 was finalist for the Executive of the Year Award given by the Memphis Business Journal.

Dr. McDonald leads by example and works to make education a vehicle for understanding diversity, promoting unity, and making the future brighter for all children.