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Marilyn MacGruder Barnewall
Whos Who in America (2005- ), Whos Who of American Women (2006- ), Whos Who in Finance and
Business (2006- ), and Whos Who in the World (2008- ).
Marilyn MacGruder Barnewall was president of The MacGruder Agency, Inc., bank financial
consulting and profit analysis, 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."
Barnewall's company (she is retired) specialized in market segmentation strategies designed to
identify affluent and middle market customer niches. She started the first wealth creation private bank
in America. 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 research, she coined terms like upscale, active investor, passive
investor, etc. Her research became known as the Active/Passive Energy Syndrome (APES) and included
interviews with 5,000 of Americas self-made affluents.
Prior to establishing the Agency and during the 1970s, Marilyn was employed by United Bank
of Denver. She was United Bank's (Denvers largest) first female vice president to manage major deposit
and loan portfolios. 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 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 important 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 was published by the American
Bankers Association and 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.
Marilyn received her graduate degree in Banking from the University of Colorado Graduate
School of Business in 1978. She was named one of Americas 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 Americas top 200 businesswomen.
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