MBCNews
France Bestows Top Honor on Alumna Martha Matheny ’70 recognized for service at World Bank and IMF
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or 25 years of dedicated service at the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Martha Carolyn Matheny ’70 was awarded one of the highest honors bestowed by the French government, the National Order of Merit. M. Amboise Fayolle, head of L’Agence France Trésor at the French Ministry of Finance, presented the award during a ceremony with Matheny’s family, friends, and colleagues at the headquarters of the World Bank in Washington DC. Matheny is the first American at the World Bank and IMF to receive the award in 25 years. The honor is usually reserved for French citizens and for those at the highest level of administration in French organizations. In receiving the award, she is in the company of such notable Americans as General Wesley Clark, world-renowned humanitarian scholar Theodor Meron, and General Anthony Zinni. Matheny was recognized as the “soul” of the World Bank and the IMF for her tireless work in presenting important French thoughts and ideas to the Englishspeaking world. Fayolle said that upon Matheny’s retirement from the World Bank and IMF, there was no one more deserving of this award and recognition by La République Française for such exemplary work.
Matheny’s path to receiving the National Order of Merit began at Mary Baldwin College, said classmate Stephanie Shearer Timm, who attended the presentation on July 7. She recalls living in the French House in Rose Terrace and spending a year in Paris with Matheny in 1968– 69 — the first year of the MBC junior-year abroad program in France. “Looking back, I realize that we embraced the unknown as if that were the most normal thing in the world to be doing at 20 years old,” Timm said. After graduation from Mary Baldwin, Matheny became a Peace Corps volunteer assigned to Niger, where she used her French daily as a teacher. In 1984, she secured a job at the World Bank and IMF and joined the French office of the organization in 1988. Throughout her career, Timm said, Matheny was also a single mother. She “kept her infectious laugh, beautiful smile, and sense of humor while balancing her love for her children, her parents, and her challenging work for the French government.” “In the 47 years since living in adjacent rooms at the French House,” Timm said, “there is no one in our group of French majors who has accomplished so much.”
(left) MBC alumna Carolyn Matheny ’70 poses with son Moustapha “Mous” Halidou, daughter-in-law Angela Halidou (wife of Ismael “Izzy” Halidou, not pictured), and grandson Aidan. (middle) With classmate Stephanie Timm. (right) With Mous in front of the globe at The World Bank and IMF in Washington.
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Winter 2015
