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If there’s one thing that can be learned from the group of women we profiled this year, it’s that relationships matter. Each woman emphasized the importance of prioritizing people personally and professionally as something that has contributed to their overall success, passion and happiness. In industries including higher education, law, accounting, banking and transportation, women are creating real change in their communities and for North Carolina as a whole.
Like most compliance-oriented individuals, Ingrid Nelson says, she loves true crime.
She didn’t always know she would be
able to turn that love into a career
in protecting financial institutions and
their customers and shareholders from
bad actors, which is a large part of what
makes her passionate about the work
she now does as First Carolina Bank’s Managing Director – BSA/AML/CFT/OFAC.
But she did know a few things as she started her journey in the corporate world: she wanted to be a professional, she wanted a seat at the table, and she wanted to make a difference.
She credits the mentors she had at North Carolina Central University for showing her what it meant to embody professionalism as well as those at the North Carolina Bankers Association and other groups for providing her with and pushing her to take advantage of valuable networking opportunities. A self-proclaimed introvert – though you’d never know it if you met her – getting that extra nudge “made me stronger” and allowed her to “see other individuals, especially women, in our industry who are making a difference, and I would think ‘let me network that person. What can I do to assist them, and what can they do to assist me? Can they put me in contact with somebody in their organization that shares the same interests as I do?’”
It was through one of those instances that she earned a seat at the table at First Carolina Bank a year ago, and she and her two primary counterparts – also women – hit the ground runningand played a main role in guiding the Bank’s successful onboarding of a large fintech partnership. She’s particularly proud of those contributions as well as those ongoing to her field of BSA/AML at the Bank.
As for her last goal – making a difference – to Nelson, a proud Black woman in banking, it
means “that this opportunity wasn’t always there. Take pride in that and accept it, do the best that you can in that role, and make room for other women coming down the line. I think that’s what’s important.”
Roselyn Bar built her career on one of the Earth’s most important resources.
Now, she has a message for anyone looking to do the same: The aggregates industry is dynamic, high-growth, and a wonderful business to work in.
As the executive vice president, general counsel and corporate secretary for Martin Marietta, a publicly traded S&P 500 company and leading heavy building materials supplier headquartered in Raleigh, Bar is making an impact in the corporate world and her community. Her success wasn’t attained overnight.
She joined Martin Marietta as an assistant general counsel and assistant corporate secretary when the company went public in 1994. She then grew her career as the company made its evolution from a regional organization with less than $500 million in market cap to a nationwide enterprise with nearly 500 facilities and $37 billion in market cap.
“Some have held the view that building materials is an industry geared toward men, but that’s simply not true,” she says. “I truly believe this industry – and this company, in particular – is the hidden gem. Many people – smart and driven women among them – have found great careers at Martin Marietta.”
In her position, Bar works on a wide variety of legal matters ranging from filings with the federal government to serving as the company’s chief ethics officer. She has also played an essential role in all of the company’s mergers and acquisitions.
“I’ve worked on hundreds of deals in my career – some as small as $2 million and several in excess of $2 billion,” she says. “All of these transactions have helped shape and strengthen Martin Marietta, and they were achieved without sacrificing our commitment to safety, governance, ethics and culture.”
Those company values – the ones she has helped solidify during her tenure – are the same that drive her personal life.
Bar is passionate about a variety of causes and has volunteered with such organizations as Make-A-Wish Eastern North Carolina and American Corporate Partners, a nonprofit that helps transition servicemembers and their spouses to civilian life.
What makes her career all the more special, is that it has been built with an employer equally committed to the well-being of its communities.
Martin Marietta has supported artists, dancers and musicians by signing a multi-million-dollar agreement to name Raleigh’s Martin Marietta Center for the Performing Arts and encourages residents to engage in healthy activities by sponsoring events like the Martin Marietta City of Oaks Marathon. Earlier this year, the company was the presenting sponsor of the American Cancer Society’s Discovery Ball, which raised more than $540,000 for the nonprofit.
“Knowing that Martin Marietta plays such a vital part in helping our community thrive is incredibly rewarding,” Bar says. “Whether driving on roads and by businesses and homes built with our crushed stone, or speaking with the many who have had great careers here, it has been gratifying to see our company contribute so much to the state of North Carolina.”