Mary Ann Whipple serves as a United States Bankruptcy Judge for the Northern District of Ohio, Western Division. She was appointed on May 1, 2001, by the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. She has also been appointed as a member of the Sixth Circuit Bankruptcy Appellate Panel for a four year term commencing on January 1, 2004.

Before becoming a bankruptcy judge, Ms. Whipple practiced law for twenty years as a commercial, bankruptcy and employment litigator with the Toledo, Ohio firm Fuller & Henry Ltd.

Ms. Whipple is admitted to practice in Ohio and Michigan, and before the United States Supreme Court, the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit and the United States District Courts for the Northern District of Ohio and the Eastern District of Michigan. She maintains memberships in the American, Ohio State and Toledo Bar Associations, the State Bar of Michigan, the American Bankruptcy Institute and the National Conference of Bankruptcy Judges.

Ms. Whipple graduated from the University of Michigan in 1977 with an A.B. degree in Russian Studies and from Stanford Law School in 1981 with a J.D. degree. Born in Ann Arbor, Michigan, she grew up in Toledo and graduated from Thomas A. DeVilbiss High School.

Ms. Whipple has taught Creditor/Debtor Law as a part-time faculty member at the University of Toledo College of Law every fall semester since 1991. In addition to teaching, she has served her community as a member of the boards of trustees of the Owens Community College Foundation, American Red Cross-Greater Toledo Area Chapter, the Lucas County Mental Health Board, the Toledo Area Chamber of Commerce, and Family Service of Northwest Ohio.