Growth & Customers

Get to know the CFO: Inside the LPGA with Mary Salter

LPGA CFO Mary Salter on purpose-driven leadership, finance as strategy, empowering women and girls, and embracing AI with curiosity and confidence.

May 26, 20267 min read Share

We interviewed Mary in Naples, Florida, at the end of the CME Group Tour Championship, where we spoke about purpose-driven leadership, the evolving role of finance, empowering women and girls through sport, and the mindset that drives high performance.

Here’s what she shared:

Why the LPGA?

When the opportunity came up to come and work for the LPGA. At first I was like: “No, I’m good! I’m enjoying where I’m at. I’m enjoying what I’m doing.”

But the more I read the LPGA’s mission, the more I fell in love.

Working in sports was not aspirational for me. It wasn’t something that I was looking to do.

I’m a person who’s motivated by mission and purpose.

Aligning with a greater purpose is where I find fulfillment. That’s what drives my performance and who I am as a person.

Before I joined the LPGA, a friend and I had started a not-for-profit organization that worked with teen girls, helping to propel them past their circumstances. A major part of our mission statement there was to empower girls.

I felt a surprising alignment when during my interview preparation I saw the word empower was in the LPGA’s mission statement, too.

This is an organization introducing girls to a game that can really change their life. Golf sets the trajectory of who they will become. Leaders, and women who show up.

It resonated with me personally, and it made me excited.

What part of the LPGA mission feels most personal to you?

Girls Golf is the LPGA’s program that introduces girls to the game of golf while helping them grow as individuals. It’s near and dear to me. My daughters even participated in the program.

You see their confidence arrive in real time. Girls arrive shy and timid, but they leave re-energized because they’re taught, encouraged, cheered on, and championed to be the best version of themselves.

How does finance serve a mission-led organization like the LPGA?

Finance is the thread that weaves everything together. Everything touches finance.

Finance tells a story. It tells where we’ve been and what brought us to where we are today, but it also tells what is available to propel us into the future.

Finance gives the data to make business decisions. It helps say what resources are available to reinvest into programs for our players and our young girls.

So finance becomes less of a reporter and more of a coach and an advisor. It provides the strategic direction needed to deploy mission, and maximize programming at the highest level.

What’s the biggest expectation of you as CFO?

Credibility.

Stakeholders want to know, “Do you know what you’re talking about? Do you know the numbers? Do you understand the business enough to advise, and can we move based on what you’re saying?”

Credibility takes work. It’s not “I woke up like this.” It’s “I worked for this.”

I prepare. I analyze. I become familiar with the activities I have stewardship of. So when those questions come up, I’m prepared to answer them and help move our organization forward.

What do you wish more people understood?

I don’t think people understand the global nature of what we’re doing.

We’re not just a domestic women’s professional golf tour. We’re transacting and moving all across the globe. We have members from over 40 countries. This year alone, we played in over 12 countries.

It’s a lot more complex and vast than what I think people realise.

What rituals keep you grounded and ready?

Preparation is a big one.

There’s a quote: champions are built in the off-season. Our players don’t just show up when they walk to the first tee. They prepare in the off-season. I do the same.

I look at my schedule ahead of time. I prepare for key meetings ahead of time. I anticipate questions and pull the reports that might be needed to answer those questions ahead of time.

The second ritual is positivity. Mindset matters. I reset through meditation, Scripture (I’m a strong person of faith), and also hype songs that set me in the mood to perform.

“All I Do Is Win” by DJ Khaled. “Who Run the World (Girls).” Stuff like that.

And honestly, sometimes it’s silence. My drive to the office is about 45 minutes and it becomes time to settle and decompress before the noise of it all. A moment of stillness.

Sometimes reflection, sometimes nothingness, sometimes preparation.

What does finance at the LPGA feel like?

Finance at the LPGA feels like fun.

And I can say that as a finance person.

It feels like fun because I’m waking up every day doing something I believe in. Something purpose-driven. Something for a greater good. We’re able to rally around transforming the lives of women and girls through a game we’ve grown to love.

What does it feel like to be a woman leading in an industry that’s historically been male-driven?

It becomes about proving something.

Women are powerful, women are purposeful, women are here, and women have a place at every table and in every space.

And when women show up, it’s with purpose and intention. And we perform.

What’s your “secret” ritual before a big moment?

Being my own hype man.

Looking in the mirror and hyping myself up: “Girl, you got this.” “You’re here for a reason.” “You’re enough.”

What’s your leadership superpower?

I have a really good memory. I have all the receipts, and I can pull them up whenever I need to.

What do you think about AI?

I’ll tell you today: I don’t know enough about it yet. But I’m excited about the possibility. And I’ve been working with my team on changing mindset around AI, being open to adopting what I believe will propel us into the next iteration of greater financial efficiencies.

I’d automate everything.

If my team can be less in the weeds and less in transactions, and take a step back to understand the why, pinpoint assumptions and outliers, develop their acumen around the numbers, and rely on a system for transactional work, they can develop as thought leaders, advisors, coaches.

That would be a win for everyone, not just finance, but across the organization.

How does finance help “level the playing field” in women’s sport?

We can only do so much with what we have. We’re a small team with limited resources, especially compared to other sports organizations.

So we have to maximize all resources: talent and financial.

That means discipline and stewardship. Driving limited resources into the best and highest use.

Finance becomes an advisor: coaching where to drive resources, analyzing return on investments, making sure resources generate the highest return and greatest impact.

It’s doing a lot with little and being the first champions of helping the organization do that.

What’s one principle you refuse to compromise on?

Integrity. I’m a person of my word. If I say I’m going to do something, I’m going to do it.

No matter what profession I’m in, I have to be comfortable with who I am.

How do you balance being an expert with staying open to new ideas?

You can’t be rigid.

You have to maintain curiosity: are we doing this the right way? Is there a better way? Is there something innovative that helps us gain efficiencies and use resources better?

Things are changing, evolving all the time. If you become stagnant and stuck, you’ll get left behind.

If you could speak to Mary 20 years ago, what would you tell her?

Be willing to take big risks. Be willing to get uncomfortable in certain spaces, because you never know where that might lead.

Own it. Step into it. Do it scared. Whatever you have to do. Don’t miss your moment.

It’s you versus you.

It’s easy to compare yourself to others. It’s easy to compete with others, especially in a sports organization where competition is everywhere.

But it’s really you versus you.

Commit to being the best version of yourself. Do something every day to make yourself better, to grow, to develop, to keep challenging yourself.

If you commit to that, it translates into showing up as your best self in every room you walk into.

Browse more topics from this article

• Customer Success Stories