Mary Wells Lawrence

Mary Wells Lawrence
1969 Wells Rich Greene Agency file photo of Mary Wells Lawrence at her desk
Born	Mary Georgene Berg (1928-05-25) May 25, 1928 (age 88) Youngstown, Ohio
Nationality	USA
Alma mater	Carnegie Institute of Technology
Occupation	advertising executive
Known for	founder of Wells Rich Greene advertising agency
Spouse(s)	Bert Wells (m.1949) Harding Lawrence (m.1967)

Mary Wells Lawrence (born Mary Georgene Berg on May 25, 1928 in Youngstown, Ohio, United States) is a retired American advertising executive. She was the founding president of Wells Rich Greene, an advertising agency known for its creative, innovative, and revolutionary work. Lawrence was the first female CEO of a company listed on the .

In the late 1940s, Lawrence studied for two years at the Carnegie Institute of Technology in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where she met industrial design student Bert Wells. While there she became a member of Kappa Alpha Theta. In 1949, they married and moved to Youngstown, Ohio. Mary began her advertising career there in 1951, as a copywriter for McKelvey’s department store. She quickly relocated to New York City, where she studied theatre and drama. By 1952, she had become Macy's fashion advertising manager. She divorced Bert Wells that year, only to remarry him in 1954. Lawrence worked as a copywriter and copy group head at McCann Erickson in 1953, later joining the Lennen & Newell advertising agency's "brain trust." In 1957, she began a seven-year tenure at Doyle Dane Bernbach (now DDB Worldwide). In her 2002 book, A Big Life in Advertising, Lawrence cited DDB partners James Edwin Doyle, Maxwell Dane, and William Bernbach as significant influences on her subsequent career.

Lawrence had two daughters with Bert Wells, Pamela and Kathy. She divorced Bert a second time in 1965, and married former Braniff International Airways president Harding Lawrence on November 25, 1967. Mr. Lawrence had four children: sons Harding, Jr., who died in infancy, State R., James B., and one daughter, Deborah. He died on February 16, 2002 at age 81 of pancreatic cancer.