Washtenaw County treasurer blazed a path for women in public finance

Longtime Washtenaw County, Michigan treasurer Catherine McClary was remembered this week as a trailblazer, role model and prominent voice for social issues whose influence carried across Midwest public finance circles. McClary died suddenly Monday. She was 72.

McClary died just weeks before she was set to retire from an office that she held for nearly three decades, where she became known for piloting innovative, equity-based public finance and anti-foreclosure programs. She won honors and awards from many government and nonprofit organizations, including the Government Finance Officers Association and National Association of Counties.

McClary was a co-founder of Michigan Women in Finance, a sister organization to Women in Public Finance. The Michigan group was prompted by her attendance at a Chicago Women in Public Finance meeting in 1999, where she recognized the advantage of connecting with women in the same industry, she said in a March interview with Michigan Women in Finance member Tamara Flake.

McClary said she founded the group in 2002 with “the savviest, most accomplished women I knew at the time.” They included Suzanne Shank, CEO of Siebert Williams Shank & Co., LLC, Sarah Ward Eubanks, former director of the Michigan Municipal Bond Authority, and Carol Walters, former president of Walters & Associates Inc. and member of the Detroit Land Bank Authority.

“Women don’t always get the respect in the business world that men automatically are entitled to, and for women of color it’s an even more difficult situation, so this is a really good way to find role models, to find pockets of influence and to improve your career and friendships,” she said.

McClary began her public service career in 1974 when at age 22 she became the youngest person elected Washtenaw County commissioner. That was at a time when about 2% of elected officials nationally were women, McClary said in a recent podcast by the Ann Arbor District Library. “I’m talking library boards and school boards up to the presidency. There were 2% of us,” she said.

She served on the county board for 14 years and was first elected treasurer in 1997. McClary earlier this year announced she would not run for re-election and would retire at the end of the year. A party was planned for Dec. 19.

The Washtenaw County board Thursday evening introduced a resolution honoring her 41 years of service — a resolution the board had planned to present to her in two weeks.

“She was the only female elected official who reached out to me when I won my election,” County Commissioner Caroline Sanders said during the meeting. “I’m going to call her the GOAT because she opened doors for women,” Sanders said. “She was a gangster for good and for those people who needed some advocacy and I think it’s quite impressive that we, as a result of her work, are nationally known for our miniscule foreclosure rates.”

McClary diligently encouraged the careers of women making their way in public finance, said Tahsha Dent, a senior managing consultant at PFM Asset Management.

“When I was brand new to the business she was one of the first treasurers to embrace me,” Dent said. “Generally in municipal finance you have to know somebody who knows somebody to do business. She introduced me to a lot of her friends, and for my career that was very impactful.”

McClary also sponsored Dent to get on the board of Michigan Women in Finance, advocating for her to current and past presidents.

Dent said she emailed McClary the day before Thanksgiving to tell her that “she was one of the people I am most grateful for.” McClary phoned her back instead of just emailing, and they chatted about McClary’s post-retirement plans in what would prove to be their last conversation.

“She paved the way for a lot of women in finance,” Dent said. “She’s going to be greatly missed.”

As county treasurer, McClary crafted programs that gained national attention, like a first-of-its-kind housing program called Home for Generations that helped establish clear home ownership titles for black and brown residents who had lived for years in homes without clear titles or deeds.

“When we dug a little deeper, we found the properties were in the name of an estate, or the name of grandma and grandpa,” McClary told the National Association of Counties in an interview about the program. “The property had oftentimes been purchased during segregation when black families would have a white family ‘front’ for them and buy it informally.”

Washtenaw County has the lowest foreclosure rate in the state due to McClary’s creation of a program that connects struggling homeowners to assistance and helps them pay delinquent taxes, according to MLive.

Both programs have since been adopted by other counties in Michigan.

Michigan Treasurer Rachael Eubanks said McClary leaves an “incredible legacy” of public service.

“She was a creative and innovative thinker, always coming up with ways to improve how the county operated,” Eubanks said in an email. “She is the only debt issuer I ever knew who figured out how to underwrite her own competitive sales, to the benefit of lowering costs for taxpayers. She also worked incredibly hard to keep as many residents in their homes as possible instead of pursuing endless tax foreclosures during the depths of the Financial Crisis,” she said.

“I will miss riding on her pontoon boat. I will miss seeing her with her young granddaughter at networking receptions, providing exposure for yet another generation of women. I will miss her celebration every time a glass ceiling was cracked or broken.”

Doug Combe

McClary helped establish the first publicly funded domestic violence shelter in the country, co-created the Women’s Crisis Center for rape victims, co-authored the publication “Freedom From Rape,” and was involved in Michigan’s landmark 1974 Criminal Sexual Conduct Act.

“She was before her time,” said Jennifer Fredericks, president of Women in Public Finance. “The social construct was always in her deal fundings — it wasn’t political, it was just the way to do things.”

McClary was a “good friend and colleague to most of us in the industry for many, many years,” said Phoebe Selden, senior vice president at Acacia Financial Group, Inc.

“Many of us will miss her quiet and impactful leadership, but what distinguished her in my mind was how friendly and inclusive she was, especially to folks who had questions and valued her opinions — uncommon traits among elected officials of her prominence,” Selden said.

U.S. Rep. Debbie Dingell, D-Mich., said in a statement that McClary was “a lifelong advocate for many causes including protecting women and families, ensuring justice and equity, protecting public health and safety, and simply doing everything she could to make people’s lives better.”

McClary was a member of the Government Finance Officer Association’s Treasury Investment Management Committee and a former member of the GFOA Executive Board. The GFOA in 2021 awarded McClary its “hero award,” which recognizes finance officers who have “demonstrated extraordinary actions during a time of health, financial, natural or human-made crisis.”

The GFOA lauded McClary for her work during the pandemic, noting she led efforts to implement secure online payments for delinquent taxes among other safety measures. “Catherine worked to motivate Washtenaw County Treasury staff to continue the equity work begun prior to the pandemic by re-focusing efforts on two major equity projects–Bridge Loans for Affordability and Home for Generations,” the GFOA said.

As a longtime member of the Michigan Association of County Treasurers, McClary shared her work with treasurers across the state. “When I will sign a contract to pay for software modification, as an example, I write in the contract that if another county treasurer in Michigan wants to use that code, they have a right to it without charge because it’s already being paid for with public funds,” she said in the Ann Arbor Library podcast.

“My entire career has been spent trying to help other women get a seat at the table,” McClary said later the podcast. “I hope that telling our story is one way to preserve women’s history and to inspire other women. You don’t have to know things. You just have to do things. Then you’ll learn what you don’t know.”

Services are expected to be private. The county plans to honor her in a ceremony early next year.