Mary Elizabeth Anderson Pawlenty (born January 13, 1961) is an American lawyer, judge, and public official.

In 1983, she graduated from Bethel University, earning a bachelor's degree in political science, summa cum laude.

She received her Juris Doctor, cum laude, from the University of Minnesota Law School—where she met Tim Pawlenty—in 1986.

[1] As First Lady of Minnesota, Mary Pawlenty established a web-based program that facilitated the connection between community-based organizations willing to volunteer their time and services and the families of deployed servicemen and women - an initiative that is continued by the Minnesota National Guard as a nationally recognized model for web-based and community support for military families, known as Beyond the Yellow Ribbon.

[2] In January 2007, after her husband was sworn into his second term as governor, Judge Pawlenty announced that she was leaving the bench on February 12, 2007.