Influential Women Features Mary J. Jungels: Bringing Persistence, Compassion, And Event Leadership To Mental Health
Chattanooga, Tennessee – Mary J. Jungels is the Operations Manager at NAMI Chattanooga, the local affiliate of the National Alliance on Mental Illness, and the Special Events and Advancement Manager for St. Jude School and Notre Dame High School under the Diocese of Knoxville. An operations and event management professional, she brings experience in logistics, community engagement, and nonprofit leadership to every role she holds. After more than three decades in logistics and manufacturing, she transitioned into nonprofit operations and advancement with a clear goal of making a meaningful impact. Today she oversees every aspect of event development, from budgeting and marketing to sponsorships, volunteer coordination, and execution. Her specialties include event planning and organization, fundraising, community building, operations management, mental health advocacy, and nonprofit special events.
Mary’s career began at Phillips Lighting, where she coordinated logistics for high-profile projects, including the lightbulbs used in the Times Square New Year’s Eve Ball Drop. She went on to Olin Corporation, where she managed complex chemical manufacturing logistics involving caustic soda, potassium hydroxide, chlorine, bleach, and hydrochloric acid. She later advanced into leadership roles at HÜBNER Manufacturing. Throughout those years, she developed the precision, planning skills, and steady judgment that complex logistics demand. She also earned a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration and Management from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, giving her a strong foundation in operations and organizational leadership. Those skills would later prove invaluable in a very different setting.
The demands of chemical and manufacturing logistics required Mary to manage schedules, coordinate many moving parts, and keep accuracy at the center of every decision. Those same skills now underpin her event work, where budgets, timelines, vendors, sponsors, and volunteers must come together on a single day. Coordinating lightbulbs for one of the most watched celebrations in the world gave her early experience with projects that leave no room for error. Today she applies that experience to galas, walks, and fundraisers that matter deeply to the people they serve. Her colleagues benefit from a planner who understands both the big picture and the smallest detail, and who knows how to keep a project on track when circumstances change. For Mary, the move from manufacturing to nonprofit work was less a change of skills than a change of purpose.
While building her corporate career, Mary volunteered extensively at her children’s schools and in community organizations, organizing fundraisers, galas, auctions, and special events for causes close to her heart. Her talent for event planning and organizational leadership caught the attention of the organizations she served, whose encouragement inspired her to pursue event management professionally. That encouragement ultimately became the bridge to her second career. Mary also spent 12 years in community pool management, where she helped save a once-closed community resource and worked alongside a volunteer board to restore and operate it for the benefit of local families. Her efforts helped preserve a place where families could gather, connect, and enjoy a safe and welcoming environment. This experience reflected the same qualities that continue to define her work today: persistence, collaborative leadership, and a belief in the importance of creating spaces where people feel supported and connected. Looking back, Mary recognizes how these experiences helped lay the foundation for her career in nonprofit operations and community engagement.
Today, Mary’s signature events have become recognizable fixtures in the Chattanooga community, supporting two causes that are central to her work. Through Dancing with the Chattanooga Stars and NAMIWalks Chattanooga, she helps raise awareness, reduce the stigma surrounding mental health, and connect individuals and families with a supportive community. Her work with the Notre Dame Green and Gold Gala and St. Jude Jockeys and Juleps focuses on advancing Catholic education and creating opportunities for students and their families.
Although each event serves a distinct mission, all share a common foundation of thoughtful planning, strong partnerships, and careful attention to detail. From budgeting and sponsorships to volunteer coordination and event execution, Mary draws on the logistical expertise she developed over decades in her career. For her, these events represent more than fundraising; they are opportunities to rally people around meaningful causes and make a lasting difference in the community.
Working with NAMI Chattanooga, St. Jude School, and Notre Dame High School, Mary applies her operational and advancement expertise across three organizations with distinct but complementary missions. At NAMI Chattanooga, she supports the organization’s broader mission of mental health advocacy and community education for all. At the two Catholic schools, her advancement work helps strengthen the resources and relationships that sustain their educational communities. Balancing these responsibilities requires adaptability, collaboration, and a strong commitment to each organization’s goals. For Mary, the opportunity to contribute to both mental health awareness and Catholic education reflects her belief that meaningful service begins with helping people and communities thrive.
Mary credits much of her success to persistence and a simple guiding principle: never give up. She understands that meaningful progress takes time and rarely follows a straight path, making the ability to adapt, reassess, and keep moving forward essential. This philosophy extends beyond her professional life to her family and personal aspirations. When her son, who is set to graduate from college next year, asked what she had sacrificed along the way, Mary explained that she views her choices not as sacrifices but as responsibilities she willingly embraced. Raising a family while navigating a career change required flexibility, careful planning, and determination, all of which helped shape the person she is today. Rather than dwelling on what might have been, she looks back with gratitude, believing that every experience, including the unexpected turns, helped lead her to where she is now.
Two pieces of career advice continue to guide Mary. The first is simple: do the work. She believes that staying committed to the mission, acting with integrity, and putting in consistent effort build the trust and credibility that create lasting opportunities. The second came from NAMI Chattanooga’s executive director, who reminded her that she is enough. Mary carries that message with her and encourages others not to measure their worth against someone else’s accomplishments. Together, these lessons shape her leadership style, reinforcing the importance of pursuing high standards while recognizing one’s own value. For Mary, success is not about being someone else; it is about doing meaningful work, staying true to her values, and trusting the path she has chosen.
For young women entering the nonprofit and advocacy field, Mary’s advice is to stay true to themselves and their values and to invest in themselves. She encourages them to keep learning and growing and to say yes to opportunities that stretch them. Every experience, including the difficult ones, prepared her for her current role, and her career advancement came gradually rather than through a single defining moment. She points to Craig Robinson’s Princeton graduation address and its message about resisting comparison with the highlight reels people share on social media. Comparison, she warns, erodes joy, perspective, and confidence. She encourages young women instead to focus on becoming the best version of themselves and to trust that the right opportunities will arrive on their own timeline. Patience with one’s own path, she believes, is just as important as ambition.
Mary sees mental health stigma as one of the most persistent challenges in her field. Too often, people fear judgment and hesitate to ask for help. She has witnessed how the silence surrounding mental health can affect a person’s well-being, damage relationships, and, in some cases, cost lives.
Through NAMI Chattanooga, Mary is committed to advancing three important goals. First, everyone should make their mental health a priority. Second, mental health conditions should be treated with the same urgency and understanding as other chronic health conditions, such as heart disease, cancer, and kidney disease. Early diagnosis and intervention can significantly improve outcomes and increase the likelihood of successful treatment. Third, everyone should have access to mental health resources and support, regardless of their ability to pay. NAMI Chattanooga works to make this possible by providing free programs and resources throughout the community, helping support the one in five people living with a mental health condition.
Mary believes meaningful change begins with conversation. Every story shared creates an opportunity to challenge stigma, deepen understanding, and foster compassion. Through her work, she strives to create welcoming spaces where these conversations can happen, recognizing that community events and open dialogue can encourage people to take that important first step toward seeking help.
NAMIWalks Chattanooga brings this mission to life. What attendees discover is an uplifting gathering of families, children, music, food trucks, local businesses, and neighbors united by a common purpose. Mary has seen how these experiences can broaden perspectives, helping participants recognize that mental health conditions affect people from all walks of life, including those closest to them. These moments reinforce why she is passionate about her work and demonstrate how community events can challenge misconceptions, foster meaningful connections, and encourage people to seek and offer support.
Community building remains central to Mary’s approach to leadership. Having spent years volunteering herself, she understands the time, dedication, and generosity required to make an event successful. She values the contributions of every volunteer, sponsor, family, and local business involved in her work, believing that lasting impact comes from people working together toward a shared purpose.
Compassion, integrity, persistence, and connection are the values that guide Mary. Compassion sits at the center of her mental health awareness work and her events benefiting children at Catholic schools and the wider community. Integrity, for her, means honesty, trustworthiness, and accountability, and she believes authenticity builds trust. Persistence reflects her conviction that meaningful change requires sustained commitment, while connection reminds her that relationships and belonging help people feel supported and not alone. She is a member of NAMI and is regarded as a servant leader focused on community, someone who leads by serving others and by putting the needs of the mission ahead of personal recognition. These values shape both the events she creates and the way she leads the teams and volunteers who bring them to life.
Outside of work, Mary enjoys gardening, supporting parrot rescue, caring for exotic birds, and spending time with her children. Her life outside work reflects the same nurturing spirit she brings to her professional roles. Her journey from coordinating the lights of Times Square to organizing events that change how a city talks about mental health reflects a career built on reinvention and purpose. Through her persistence and compassion, she continues to bring people together around causes that matter. Mary J Jungels stands as an example of how the skills of one career can become the foundation for a life of service in another.
Learn More about Mary J Jungels:
Through her Influential Women profile: https://influentialwomen.com/connect/mary-jungels
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