Ms. Mary Kepler has joined the board of directors at Access to Capital for Entrepreneurs Inc. (ACE). Kepler is senior vice president and chief risk and compliance officer at the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, where she leads compliance and enterprise risk identification and management efforts.
“We are pleased to welcome Mary to the ACE board of directors,” said Matthew D. Bozzelli, associate general counsel at Southern Company and ACE board chair. “Her leadership and deep experience with the Fed and other nonprofit organizations will add significant value to ACE and its clients, along with the communities they serve.”

As part of her current role in risk management and compliance, Kepler oversees the Retail Payments Risk Forum. This involves collaborating with organizations in the financial industry, regulators and law enforcement to identify, understand and mitigate the risks inherent in retail payments.

Kepler, who has served in the Federal Reserve System for more than three decades, joined the Atlanta Fed in 1992. Her previous roles include senior officer over human resources, where she chaired the bank’s human resources committee and advised the management committee. Kepler also led the accounting, budgeting, procurement, strategic planning and enterprise risk management functions for the financial management and planning department. Additionally, she has held roles in the Retail Payments Office (RPO), where she managed the Federal Reserve System’s retail payments services to the U.S. Treasury Department and oversaw the RPO’s initiatives on intellectual property rights, and as vice president of the information technology department. Prior to her work in Atlanta, Kepler spent nearly eight years at the Kansas City Fed.

Driven by a passion for causes that support women and girls — and the opportunities they have access to through sports, personal and professional development, and entrepreneurship — Kepler has been active in the community. From 2009 through 2017 she served on the board of the Greater Women’s Business Council, a nonprofit organization providing certification for women-owned business enterprises.

A native of Missouri, she earned a BSBA degree with a major in finance from the University of Central Missouri. She also completed the executive development program at Northwestern University.