Marilyn MacGruder Barnewall
Who’s Who in America, Who’s Who of American Women, Who’s Who in Finance and Business, and Who’s Who in the World
Marilyn MacGruder Barnewall was president of The MacGruder Agency, Inc., a bank financial consulting and profit analysis firm, from 1979 through 1993. She is recognized as the “guru” of North American Private Banking (so-called by Town and Country and Trust and Estates magazines). In the July 9, 1989 issue of Forbes, Barnewall was hailed as “Dean of American Private Banking.” She is known for creating a credit-driven wealth-creation form of banking that helps grow independent businesses to create jobs.
Barnewall’s company (she is retired) specialized in non-traditional market segmentation strategies designed to identify affluent and middle market customer niches. She started the first wealth creation private bank in America at Denver’s largest bank. She devised products and strategies to assist banks in marketing effectively to affluent and about- to-be-affluent clients that emerged into a capital source for new start-up businesses and new job growth. Strategies included loan quality, credit philosophies, loan policies, procedures, risk analysis and profitability analysis. For five years, Barnewall researched private banking profitability and published a survey each year. As a result of her work, she coined terms like “upscale,” “active investor,” “passive investor,” inter alia. Her research became known as the Active/Passive Energy Syndrome (APES) and included interviews with 5,000 of America’s self-made affluents.
Prior to establishing the Agency and in the early 1970s, Marilyn was employed by United Bank of Denver. She was United Bank’s (Denver’s largest) first female vice president to manage major deposit and loan portfolios. Prior to starting the first private bank in the U.S., she was also Customer Communications, New Product, and Marketing Manager.
Until 1992, Marilyn was a frequent speaker at a multitude of national and international conferences. In addition to numerous speeches made for the American Bankers Association, Bank Marketing Association, and state banking organizations, her speaking engagements include the Third National Canadian Retail Banking Conference (March 1988), the First National Retail Banking Conference in Sydney, Australia (November 1988), the International Private Banking Conferences in London (6/88) and Zurich (6/89), and in August 1991 she taught wealth creation private banking in Singapore. For several years she taught private banking at Colorado University for the American Bankers Association.
Quoted in Time, Forbes, Wall Street Journal, and many other national journals and newspapers in the U.S. on issues dealing with banking and economics, she also served as U.S. editorial consultant for Private Banker International (Lafferty Publications, London/Dublin).
Marilyn has written several books about private banking. One, published by the American Bankers Association, sold for two years at $5,000 per copy ($3,250 per copy to ABA members). The book sold internationally through Lafferty Publications, London/Dublin, at 1300 British Pounds Sterling per copy. Another book was The Warren, Gorham & La Mont (New York) Private Banking 1987 Profit Survey ($2,000/copy). She has written extensively for The American Banker, Bank Marketing Magazine, Trust Management Update, and many national newspapers and magazines. In 2003, she began writing for online news publications World Net Daily, Canada Free Press, and News With Views, among others. Her latest book is Wanta! Black Swan, White Hat, a biography of Ambassador Leo Emil Wanta (better known as the $27.5 trillion man), Personal Intelligence Coordinator for President Ronald Wilson Reagan, and the man who brought down the Soviet Union Ruble which, in turn, brought down the Iron Curtain.
Marilyn received her graduate degree in Banking from the University of Colorado Graduate School of Business in 1978. She was named one of America’s top 100 businesswomen in the book, What It Takes (Dolphin/Doubleday; Gardenswartz and Roe) and was one of the founders of the Committee of 200, the official organization of America’s top 200 businesswomen.
COMMUNITY AND PRIOR SERVICE ON BOARDS OF DIRECTORS:
Board, Camp Fire Girls
Board, Colorado State University Family Action Center
Board, Americans for Effective Law Enforcement
Committee, United Negro College Fund, Chaired Fundraising
Board, Metro Denver Urban Coalition (Chaired Publicity, Committee Against Crime)
Board, Big Brothers
United Bank of Denver Contributions Committee, 1977-79
Children’s Hospital Preemie Wing, Chaired Committee for Battle of the Media Stars, 1978
Leukemia Society of America, Coordinated/Chaired Fund Raising Event, 1976
Handled publicity for Secretary of State Mary Estill Buchanan’s political campaign, U.S. Senate, 1980 (Sen. Hart)
Taught classes on Women in the Workforce at Colorado Women’s College, Denver, 1978-80
Taught classes on business and banking at Regis College, Denver, 1977-79
Taught class at University of Denver Law School about the Equal Credit Opportunity Act, 1977
Taught private banking for the Bank Marketing Association and American Bankers Association at Colorado Univ.
Taught private banking, Singapore, 1991
Testified before the State Legislature (House Finance Committee) on the state of readiness of Colorado’s banks to comply with the Equal Credit Opportunity Act, 1977, legislation Barnewall worked to get passed.
Expert Witness, First National Bank of Chicago v Shearson Lehman, Chicago, October 1990.