Mary Anastasia O'Grady, co-editor of the Index of Economic Freedom,
is a member of The Wall Street Journal Editorial Board and editor of the Journal’s weekly "Americas" column,
which deals with politics, economics, and business in Latin America and Canada. After working as an options strategist
for Advest Inc. and Thomson McKinnon Securities, she moved to Merrill Lynch & Co. in 1984 as an options strategist
and was also a product manager and sales manager for Merrill Lynch Canada and Merrill Lynch International during
her 10 years with the company. In 1997, Ms. O’Grady won the Inter American Press Association’s Daily Gleaner Award
for editorial commentary, and in 1999, she received an honorable mention in the IAPA’s opinion award category.
In 2005, she won the Bastiat Prize for journalism, which honors writers who promote the institutions of a free
society.