In 1996, Mary Staton began assisting her husband, Bert Ward, with the management of investment properties—the beginning of her exposure to the real estate industry. Mary Staton's duties included scheduling and coordinating renovations, repairs and maintenance as well as the day-to-day duties of property management.
In 2007, she extended the scope of her real estate work as a North Carolina Trainee Real Estate Appraiser after successful completion of the state course and exam. Then in October of 2013, Mary Staton expanded her real estate expertise by obtaining her Real Estate Broker’s license and started working full time with Bert in their real estate firm assisting buyers and sellers with the purchase and sale of residential properties. In 2018 Mary Staton was appointed to a three-year term as a Director of the Burlington – Alamance County Association of Realtors. In October 2020 during the early period of the COVID pandemic, Mary Staton dove back into the real estate appraisal business helping Bert appraise more than 450 homes in two years.
Prior to getting involved in real estate, Mary Staton moved from her hometown of Greensboro to Raleigh, where she attended St. Mary's College and earned an associate of arts degree. She continued her education in Greenville, NC, and graduated in 1990 with a bachelor of arts degree from East Carolina University (ECU).
Shortly after graduating from ECU, Mary Staton was hired as an inside sales representative for The Austin Company in Yadkinville, NC. She and Bert relocated to Burlington in 1992, where she was a customer service representative for BB&T in Graham. She then obtained her
insurance license and worked as a customer service representative in the commercial division of Somers-Pardue Insurance Agency (now HUB International), in Burlington, from 1994 to 1999. For nearly three years, she served as an administrative assistant for James B. Crouch, Jr. of Harris, Crouch, Long, Scott & Miller in Whitsett.
Mary Staton and Bert live in Burlington, where they are parents to two daughters, Margot and Isabel. Aside from work, she enjoys snow skiing with her family, reading, and working in the yard.