Mary Anastasia O'Grady is an American editor, and columnist who works for ''

The Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' (''WSJ''), also referred to simply as the ''Journal,'' is an American newspaper based in New York City. The newspaper provides extensive coverage of news, especially business and finance. It operates on a subscriptio ...

''. She has, also, been a member of ''The Wall Street Journal'' editorial board since 2005. She writes predominantly on

Latin America Latin America is the cultural region of the Americas where Romance languages are predominantly spoken, primarily Spanish language, Spanish and Portuguese language, Portuguese. Latin America is defined according to cultural identity, not geogr ...

and is a co-editor of the

Index of Economic Freedom The ''Index of Economic Freedom'' is an annual index and ranking created in 1995 by The Heritage Foundation and ''The Wall Street Journal'' to measure the degree of economic freedom in the world's nations. The creators of the index assert that ...

. She is a recipient of the Bastiat Prize.

Biography

Education

A 1975 graduate of Guilford (CT) Senior High School, O'Grady earned a

bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Medieval Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six years ...

in English from Assumption College and later received an

MBA A Master of Business Administration (MBA) is a professional degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration; elective courses may allow further study in a particular a ...

from

Pace University Pace University is a private university with campuses in New York City and Westchester County, New York, United States. It was established in 1906 as a business school by the brothers Homer St. Clair Pace and Charles A. Pace. Pace enrolls about ...

in financial management.

Career

Before her work for ''The Wall Street Journal'' (WSJ), she was an options strategist for Advest, Thomson McKinnon Securities then

Merrill Lynch Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Incorporated, doing business as Merrill, and previously branded Merrill Lynch, is an American investment management and wealth management division of Bank of America. Along with BofA Securities, the investm ...

, where she worked for 10 years. In August 1995, O'Grady joined WSJ and later became a senior editorial page writer for the journal in December 1999. In November 2005, she was appointed as a member of WSJ's editorial board. She is also editor of "The Americas," a weekly column that appears every Monday and deals with politics, economics and business in Latin America and Canada while also serving as a member of the board of directors at

Liberty Fund Liberty Fund, Inc. is an American nonprofit foundation headquartered in Carmel, Indiana, that promotes the libertarian views of its founder, Pierre F. Goodrich, through publishing, conferences, and educational resources. The operating mandat ...

. She is well known for her positions regarding

classical liberalism Classical liberalism is a political tradition and a branch of liberalism that advocates free market and laissez-faire economics and civil liberties under the rule of law, with special emphasis on individual autonomy, limited governmen ...

, her frontal rejection of leftist governments in the Americas and for being in favor of the legalization of drug trafficking She has been characterized by her strong position against progressive governments, which has elicited responses from people such as former US President

Jimmy Carter James Earl Carter Jr. (October 1, 1924December 29, 2024) was an American politician and humanitarian who served as the 39th president of the United States from 1977 to 1981. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party ...

, who wrote an article in response to O'Grady. She has been criticized in the Salvadoran online newspaper Diario La Pagina for her support, through her columns, of the controversial and nepotistic privatization process in El Salvador. In an article published on ''The Wall Street Journal'', she linked Iran with the government of Mexican President

Andrés Manuel López Obrador Andrés Manuel López Obrador (; born 13 November 1953), also known by his initials AMLO, is a Mexican former politician, political scientist, public administrator and writer who served as the 65th president of Mexico from 2018 to 2024. He se ...

citing "secret intelligence sources." The Mexican president publicly denied the contents of the article in a press conference, characterizing the article as false information.

Honors and awards

Awards

Inter American Press Association The Inter American Press Association (IAPA; Spanish: ''Sociedad Interamericana de Prensa'', SIP) is a press advocacy group representing major media organizations in North America, South America and the Caribbean. It is made up of more than 1,300 ...

's David Gleaner Award (1997) * International Policy Network's Bastiat Prize (2005) * Association of Private Enterprise Education's Thomas Jefferson Award (2009) *

The Fund for American Studies The Fund for American Studies (TFAS) is a non-profit organization based in Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the Unit ...

' Walter Judd Freedom Award (2012)

Honorary degrees

O'Grady was awarded the following honorary degrees: * Francisco Marroquin University,

honorary doctorate An honorary degree is an academic degree for which a university (or other degree-awarding institution) has waived all of the usual requirements. It is also known by the Latin phrases ''honoris causa'' ("for the sake of the honour") or '' ad hon ...

(2015)

References

External links

''WSJ'' Biography
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ogrady, Mary The Wall Street Journal people Living people Year of birth missing (living people) American women journalists Bastiat Prize winners Assumption University (Worcester) alumni Pace University alumni People from Lower Merion Township, Pennsylvania Writers from Pennsylvania