Mary Lou Zoback is a seismologist and currently serves as Vice President, Earthquake Risk Applications with Risk Management Solutions in Newark, CA. She previously served as Chief Scientist of the USGS Earthquake Hazards team in Menlo Park, CA and also as Regional Coordinator for the Northern California Earthquake Hazards Program.

Zoback joined the USGS in 1978 after receiving her BS, MS and Ph.D. in geophysics from Stanford University. She is a member of the U. S. National Academy of Sciences, past-President of the Geological Society of America, and currently a member of the Carnegie Foundation Board of Trustees and the Board of Directors of the Seismological Society of America.