Creating Brighter Tomorrows for the Next Generation of Panthers
Don ’83 and Mary ’83 Coffin
Don and Mary Coffin have made careers of their leadership acumen.
Together, they have spent over 50 years in banking, assuming executive positions in high-profile financial institutions. Mary, ’83, worked for two decades at Wells Fargo, rising to executive vice president of customer excellence before her retirement in 2020; and Don, ’83, has been the CEO of Bankers Trust, Iowa’s largest independent bank, since 2018.
In the Des Moines community, they are perhaps equally regarded for their service as for their career accomplishments. The Coffins have served on the boards of various nonprofit organizations that empower youth and promote arts and culture.
At the heart of their career and personal success: their UNI education, says Mary, an accounting alumna.
“Don and I both feel very strongly that UNI played a key role in our leadership success—not just what we learned, but how we were taught and the way professors cared for us was very important to the development of our style of leadership,” says Mary, who in 2018 was honored as one of Iowa’s Women of Influence.
“Looking back, it’s clear that UNI was the foundation that afforded us the opportunity to be successful,” Mary adds.
While Don and Mary both graduated from the College of Business (Don is a finance alumnus), they did not know one another during their time on campus.
“Don and I were both business students. We had classes in the same building. We graduated on the same day. Yet, we never met,” Mary explains. “We met when we both landed the same job after graduation.” As Mary tells it, Don was a shoo-in for the position, having interned with the bank during school. Mary had landed the role “on a fluke.”
“So, I show up to the interview and was told, ‘Well, your chances are slim because there is a gentleman that's been interning here,’ etcetera. And the next thing you know, I was offered the job and I thought, ‘Golly, I wonder what happened to that poor guy,’” Mary recalls.
Later, I found out they liked us both so much they decided to expand the management trainee program and hired both of us. We met on our first day.”
Married for 30 years, Don and Mary have pledged a legacy gift to UNI through their estate planning. Their philanthropy will support faculty and students in the College of Business.
“Mary and I felt that providing our planned gift back to UNI was important to us as we want current and prospective business students to have the same opportunities as we did,” Don says. “We are lucky enough to be able to provide this gift, and donations today are essential to supporting UNI’s educational mission.”
The Coffins have also been active on the UNI Foundation Board of Trustees, helping to guide Our Tomorrow: The Campaign for UNI through the planning stages and now into the public phase. With a fundraising goal of $250 million, Our Tomorrow is the largest comprehensive campaign in UNI’s history and will support initiatives that will shape the university’s future for decades to come.
“This is an exciting time for the University of Northern Iowa,” Mary says. “There is strong momentum with the campaign and great investments planned for the university’s future. Through the financial support of alumni and friends of this institution—we can all help students for years to come!”
On behalf of our community, our state and generations of Panthers past, present and future—we invite you to join us in Our Tomorrow: The Campaign for UNI. Contact Jane Halverson at (319) 273-4665 or jane.halverson@uni.edu to learn how you can help build the UNI tomorrow needs.