Mary Morris
Session Title: Principal Protected Investment Option, The Tuition Track Portfolio
Overview:
College costs have increased significantly over the last three decades, leading many families to look for affordable ways to save for their children’s futures at a time when the tuition price tag can feel like a moving target.
Virginia529, the largest 529 plan in the country with almost 3 million accounts, has created a new savings option within its highly rated program Invest529 that can help families save for their children’s future and keep up with rising tuition costs.
This savings option, called the Tuition Track Portfolio, is an exclusive option for Virginia residents designed to track the average tuition growth at Virginia Public 4-year Universities (Average Tuition) and protect families’ savings by avoiding market risk. Learn about Tuition Track Portfolio and help your clients achieve their education savings goals.
About Mary
Mary G. Morris is the Chief Executive Officer of Virginia529, the largest tax-advantaged education savings program in the country with the direct Invest529, advisor CollegeAmerica programs and Defined Benefit 529 Program; Virginia529 launched tax-advantaged disability savings program ABLEnow in 2016 and ABLEAmerica in 2018. Virginia529 is developing a state-facilitated private retirement program to open by mid-2023. Virginia529 sponsors SOAR Virginia, an early commitment scholarship program, and administers a variety of scholarship and education access, affordability, and attainment initiatives to foster equity and inclusion in educational access and help make postsecondary education more affordable and accessible to all Virginians.
Mary works with the executive team to develop the strategic vision for the future and coordinates the operations, resources, outreach, and investments of Virginia529; she is involved in state and federal legislative and governance issues relating to 529, ABLE and private retirement initiatives and policy. Mary is a lawyer and spent many years in private practice specializing in tax, public finance, securities and ESG matters. In the public sector, earlier in her career she served as a Virginia Senior Assistant Attorney General for Tax and Finance and later served a term as the Treasurer of Virginia.
Mary earned her Juris Doctor and Master of Law and Taxation from the Marshall-Wythe School of Law at the College of William and Mary. She is active in both national 529 organizations, and the College Savings Plans Network where she serves on the executive leadership team as Vice-Chair and a member of the National Association of State Treasurers Legislative Committee, and the College Savings Foundation, where she is a former Board Chair and member of the Media Committee. Mary is a member of the boards of the Virginia Council on Economic Education (VCEE) and the Virginia Foundation for Community College Education (VFCCE) and a former member of the board of Junior Achievement of Central Virginia (JACV). She is a member of the Institutional Limited Partners Association (ILPA) and the Virginia State Bar. Mary is a frequent national speaker on education savings, the future of higher education and workforce training and disability savings.