Mary Marete is the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) programme director for Sustainable Development. She is a member of the Food for Life strategy group of the WCC's Ecumenical Advocacy Alliance.

Mary has a BSc in Agriculture from the University of Nairobi; a Master's degree in Training, Rural Extension and Teaching, Larenstein University, Netherlands (2004); and her PhD is from Penn State University (2010) in Agricultural Extension Education, where she focused on Programme Management and Monitoring and Evaluation.

Mary has worked extensively in sub-Saharan Africa on agriculture and livelihoods programmes as well as irrigation and drainage. She has a keen interest in women's food security and livelihoods programmes, as well as programmes that reduce women's burden of labour.