Margaret A Gillis, affectionately known as Marty, graduated from Delsea Regional High School in Franklinville, New Jersey in 1971. While at Delsea H.S. Marty was a member of the Girls hockey and basketball teams. She was also a member of the National Honor Society and Delsea’s Junior Miss, placing as the second runner up in the county pageant.
Marty left her small town to attend Douglass College of Rutgers University. Marty graduated in 1975 with a degree in History Education, as well as with a Teaching Certification. She was the first in her family to graduate college; making her family proud by graduating on the Dean’s List.
After graduating, Marty went to work for General Motors Acceptance Corporation. Marty was the first female hired as a Company Field Representative. She was responsible for auditing Car dealerships that were financed by GMAC in Cumberland and Gloucester Counties. She also did collections and repossessions from the retail car owners. Marty was nicknamed the “snake”. She could always go into difficult situations and snake her way out with favorable outcomes for all parties. Oddly enough, this real world experience made Marty decide that business would be her life’s career.
Marty decided that she needed a Business education in order to have a solid foundation. She attended Rutgers University Graduate School of Management. After an upperclassman told her that her years at GMAC gave her a great start in finance, she chose to concentrate in Finance. At the time this was highly unusual for a female and she was the only Black female to focus on a career in Finance. Marty received a great education at the “B School”; some of her great professors were Professor Richard Marshall, Professor Paul Nadler and Professor Rosa Oppenheimer. While at the ‘ B School’, She won the Allied Chemical Scholarship and The Edmund L. Houston Scholarship for Outstanding Student.
During those years at the “B School”, Marty worked in the Office of Admissions and Finance for the late Dean Alfreda Robinson. Dean Robinson helped to reinforce that we each must have a sense of purpose. It was our duty to assist our fellow students. All the students came to Marty with their issues; they knew that she would advocate in their behalf to resolve all their concerns. The students elected Marty to the University Senate. Marty finished B school in September 1979; degree is dated June 1980.
A Rutgers University Graduate School of Management alumnus took interest when Marty expressed a desire to enter into the banking field. Through his contacts he arranged a few interviews. Marty accepted an offer with the then Manufacturers Hanover Trust Company’s leasing subsidiary as a management trainee. She was the first Black Graduate of their International Management Training program. Marty knew that she had an inside track when she found out that her instructor had been taught finance by her Rutgers professor, Bucky Wallingford. So those Harvard and Yale graduates did not intimidate her.
With hard work and perseverance Marty fast tracked up the ranks. She became a Vice President in the International Division of the Manufacturers Hanover Leasing Company. She was responsible for multimillion dollar loans in Hong Kong, Korea, Indonesia. She did one of the first deals with mainline China when she lent money to China Airlines. Marty was moved into the Latin America group to handle a problem loan from Venezuela. Eventually problem Loans would become her specialty. She remarks that it was just like GMAC only the loans were multimillion dollars.
After surviving a few company mergers first with CIT then Chemical Bank (it’s currently J.P. Morgan Chase), Marty decided she wanted to try something entrepreneurial. Marty applied and was accepted into McDonald’s Registered Applicant program to become a McDonald’s Franchisee. Marty trained nights and weekends while working fulltime. After completing the program in 1993, Marty had to wait until 1995 for the right franchising location offer. She accepted her first store in 1995 in Neptune, New Jersey.
Starting with sales of only $1.7MM, she grew the store sales to $3.1MM. She currently owns 9 restaurants with total sales volumes of $21 MM. She is the largest Black operator in the Tristate area of New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Delaware. Marty employs over 400 people. Many of her employees are first time job applicants; others are being taken off the welfare role. Many have started as crew and now manage multimillion dollar stores. Some of her former employees are doctors, teachers, bankers and police officers. They still frequent her restaurants and are proud that they started there.
Involvement in the community that she does business is her guiding principle. The list of sponsorships are too numerous to name. See the attached list. Marty also believes in helping others fulfil their potential. She demonstrates this in her donations to various scholarships. She is most proud of the scholarships that she has started at both Rutgers University and Rutgers Graduate School of Management, as well as her store scholarships. She does this in memory of her father James G. Gillis Sr and in honor of her mother Aileen Gillis, who sacrifice to pay for her education. She also thinks of the elderly church ladies from her college days that pressed five dollar bills in her hand while offering words of encouragement.
Other McDonald’s franchisees have chosen Marty to represent them on various committees. Marty is currently the Chairperson of the African American Consumer Committee and is responsible for a budget of $43MM to ensure that the McDonald’s Brand continues to resonate with this important consumer base. She is part of the McDonald’s Operator Advertising Council that oversees a budget of $550MM. She has receives honors as a result of this.
Marty has been married for James Swanson Sr. for 25 years. Jim is retired after 40 years of government service. Jim served nine years in the United States Air Force. He was an Air Traffic Controller with the Federal Aviation Administration for 32 years. At retirement he was in charge of Air Traffic Control for Northern New Jersey, with Newark Airport, Teterboro Airport and Caldwell Airports reporting to him.
Marty and Jim have raised four children together. The oldest child is an Air Traffic Controller and the youngest is well on his way to becoming a McDonald’s Owner. Marty and Jim are blessed to have both of their mothers continuing to enjoy their lives in their nineties.