Her Story
About Mary Ellen
Mary Ellen Donner built a career defined by reinvention, moving from corporate accounting into financial planning, higher education, and eventually authorship. She began her professional life as a corporate accountant at National Distillers before earning her CFP designation and working as a stockbroker and financial advisor, a path that eventually led her to found her own practice, BohanDonner Financial Coaching. Determined to fund her own education, she worked full time while completing both her undergraduate and graduate degrees in accounting and finance at Fairleigh Dickinson University's Silberman College of Business in New Jersey, later returning to academic life once again to pursue her CFP certification after marrying and raising a family.
Donner's professional path took a significant turn when she entered education at Sussex County Community College, where she progressed from adjunct instructor to assistant professor and ultimately to interim dean of Mathematics, Science, and Business. In that role, she oversaw curriculum development, faculty evaluations, student grievance mediation, and institutional accreditation compliance, while also mentoring students and helping guide them toward further education or the workforce. Throughout her career, she often found herself the only woman in professional settings, an experience she credits with strengthening her confidence and resolve rather than holding her back.
Now retired from both finance and academia, Donner has turned her attention fully to writing. A published poet for years, she has authored several children's books exploring how young children process having elder family members affected by dementia, including her title Auntie Has a New Home. She is currently seeking a literary agent and publisher to bring her work to a wider audience, approaching the process with the same care and diligence that marked her earlier careers. Guided by a lifelong commitment to honesty, hard work, and lifting others up along the way, she continues to view herself as a perpetual student, now immersed in learning the craft of writing and publishing.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Mary Ellen
01What do you attribute your success to?
I attribute my success to hard work and perseverance. There were many times I was the only woman in the room, but I made a conscious choice not to let that intimidate me — instead, I kept showing up, contributing, and proving myself through my work.
02What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
The best career advice I ever received was that you can have it all, but sometimes you can't have it all at once. It was given to me by another woman, and it has stayed with me throughout my career and my life, reminding me that different priorities take center stage in different seasons.
03What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
I would tell them that they can have it all, just not necessarily all at once, and that different priorities will matter more at different points in life. I'd also encourage them to remember that once you succeed, you should reach back and help the person coming up behind you do the same.
04What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
Right now, my biggest challenge is breaking into the publishing industry as a new author. It's difficult to get publishers and industry professionals to recognize the potential of my story in such a crowded market. While self-publishing is an option, I want to be thoughtful about the process and make sure my work is professionally edited, illustrated, and presented rather than rushing just to get something published.
05What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
Honesty and ethical behavior matter most to me, both professionally and personally. I've seen how those qualities can sometimes be lacking in corporate environments, which has only reinforced how important it is for me to hold onto strong ethics and do what's right.
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