By day, Senior Account Specialist Mary Singletary helps some of Aon’s largest Tampa Bay, Fla.-area clients manage their risk exposure in her role as a senior account specialist. At home, Mary is a dedicated wife and mother to Erica, 10, and John Carlston (better known as “J.C.”), 7. A strong emphasis on faith and family allows Mary to balance the demands of her life as a working mother.

Active in her church and her children’s school activities, Mary teaches her children that giving back offers a dual opportunity to connect with the local community and help keep life’s priorities in check. “I feel like volunteering — whether it be teaching religious classes to kids, cleaning up the local beaches or recycling on behalf of Erica and J.C.’s Green School Project — keeps me grounded on so many levels,” said Mary. “Volunteering reminds me what’s important.”

Mary feels fortunate to have a strong network of friends and family to call on for support. Her sister was one of  her biggest supporters until she passed away from lymphoma in 2008. “After she died,” says Mary, “I had to do something that might help make a difference for people with the disease.”

Mary’s boss had a suggestion. He was on the board of the Suncoast Chapter of The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS) and wanted Mary to become a candidate in the 2011 Man & Woman of the Year competition, an intense fundraising competition in communities across the United States. Candidates raise funds for blood cancer research in honor of local children who are blood cancer survivors. 

Mary solicited in-kind and monetary donations from local merchants, collected charitable gifts from her co-workers, leveraged Aon’s matching gift program and turned to her friends and family network in Tampa for support. Through hard work, persistence and knocking on doors, Mary raised more than $20,000 for her local LLS chapter, and received the coveted Woman of the Year honor.

Mary gives as much to her job as she does to her volunteer work. She was recently promoted to senior account specialist because of her dedication to and the hard work she does for her clients.

Says Mechelle Griffin, Mary's manager: "Mary is an exemplary employee, wife, mother and volunteer for her community."