In 2005, Mary Ann became President of the Beyster Foundation for Enterprise Development, created in 1986 by her late father, Bob Beyster, and renamed in 2017.  The Foundation supports research, education/technical assistance, and catalytic community programs that advance innovation, entrepreneurship and broad-based employee ownership.  For her work through the Foundation, Mary Ann has received awards for exceptional impact in employee ownership, and recognitions for start-up/small business innovation. 

Initiatives launched include the Beyster Institute and the J.R. Beyster Special Collection at UCSD, the Rutgers’ Institute for the Study of Employee Ownership and Profit Sharing, the Curriculum Library for Employee Ownership, Beyster Professorship, Beyster Fellowships & Symposium, Rutgers/Aspen Institute EO Ideas DC Forum, EO Training in Entrepreneurship and Economic Growth at UMICH, Employee Participation and Ownership Scholarly Research Award at Academy of Management, and Best Paper Prize for Journal of Participation and Employee Ownership.  Published “The SAIC Solution” and “Names, Numbers, and Network Solutions”, and produced “We the Owners” documentary film.  Details and listings of current place-based initiatives found at the Foundation (beyster.com)

Mary Ann is Trustee of Beyster Family Foundations in support of health and human services, education, conservation, and art & culture, primarily in the San Diego region. She is a Director’s Council member at Scripps Institution of Oceanography (SIO), Chair of Innovation & Commercialization subcommittee at SIO, founding sponsor and advisory board member of StartBlue (San Diego based Blue Economy accelerator), and Emeritus of Birch Aquarium. She is also active as Trustee Emeriti of The Nature Conservancy’s California Chapter, former board member and Medallion Society member of La Jolla Music Society, and KPBS Producer Club member.  

Impact investing extends Mary Ann’s philanthropy and community involvement. Her portfolio includes investor notes, venture debt, venture fund and equity positions to advance healthy soils and oceans, community/worker well-being, and broad-based wealth creation.

As an early-stage catalytic funder, Mary Ann is a founding sponsor to Start.Coop, UCSD’s Entrepreneur Challenge, StartR, Veteran Ventures, San Diego’s Economy Food Lab,  Women in Ocean Food Latin America, Vivid Life Home Care Cooperative, DAWI’s Worker Ownership Cities, and San Diego’s StartBlue.  She is a regular judge for the JMK Innovation Fund, a national social innovation competition.

Her research in this field includes a published report in 2017 titled, Impact Investing and Employee Ownership: Making employee-owned enterprises part of the income inequality solution.  Read more here.