Owner and director of the Mary Boone Gallery since 1977, Mary Boone is an influential contemporary art dealer in New York City. From articles about her, interviews with her, and visits to her gallery space, she seems to be the epitome of the contemporary dealer today. She is well spoken, outgoing, personable, and she never stops promoting her artists and their art. 
Mary Boone
In an article in the daily observer she is quoted as saying:
All I can say is, when 1989 hit, I had a very beautiful [Cy] Twombly, an extremely importantBrice Marden painting, and a 1966 Agnes Martin, all of which were losing value by the day," Ms. Boone recalled. "Everyone kept telling me, ‘Sell them! You can at least break even, but I was stubborn and determined not to just break even. I ended up waiting a year and a half and selling them for half. So now, people realize that it’s either you decide to stay in it for 10 years or sell right away.
It is clear from this quote that she prizes money a great deal and even sees it as the end goal in her artistic transactions. Unlike many gallerists who try to stay pure to the cultural significance of the work they sell, Mary Boone is forthright in acknowledging that money is important to the industry and allows her to continue to "help" artists. Boone has a reputation from using the media to her advantage to create a buzz about herself, her artists, and the market in general. She is branded for her role in the 1980s market frenzy, known in the art community as an aggressive dealer looking to make as much money as possible. It is said that at the time she often would "encourage" artists to certain kinds of sellable work or even bully them into showing unfinished work in order to fulfill growing demands from clients. Interestingly, according to more recent interviews, there is a new Mary Boone in town. She has seemingly switched gears after becoming the scapegoat for much of what happened in the market crash of the 1990s. Her rhetoric now focuses on a desire to and joy in helping artists to work at what they love. And instead of an expensive 30 year anniversary soiree, she is planning a new venture called "Young at Art" with 30 schools in 5 boroughs of the NYC school system. Whether she has really turned over a new leaf, or simply realized that her days of aggression need to get buried for PR reasons, one can never be sure. All I can tell you is that this new marketing strategy has indeed worked, and her gallery continues to thrive even in uncertain times. When she was starting out, she sold on the secondary market to keep her new gallery afloat. One of her noted artists says of her transformation:
She’s somebody who never used to be able to hear ‘no,’” Fischl says. “It did not register.” Now, though, “she gets it. She’s changed radically. Dramatically but slowly, if that’s possible. She’s really moved from a mono-focused, obsessive, driven character who could be bullying, infuriating, quick to argue and ultimately isolated to somebody who--through her spiritual development, her revelations--serves her community. 
Mary Boon Gallery Space, 2011
She claims in her interview that she has never looked at a slide from a young artist. She exclusively gets tips and introductions from established artists and collectors about emerging artists who she should consider to take on, trusting in the relationships already established between these parties. So even though she claims to be a dealer who is supportive of young, fresh art, it is clear that reputation and branding also play a huge role in her decisions. She says that she is able to rationalize commerce with art by "helping people to have the jobs they want". She works with 20 to 25 artists at a time, and her staff seems loyal to her, which is beneficial to create an atmosphere of trust in artists coming to the gallery. She calls it a "Service - Oriented" space. The artists in her gallery have close relationships, get criticism from each other. Yet it seems clear that many artists sign onto her gallery because of the branding that she has established around her name, and because of the branding that she can bring to their own names. Once an artist is branded, especially by someone as influential in the field as Mary Boone, they can command higher rates, higher prices, offerings to better collectors and institutions. This can mean great things for the sale of their work, but as was the case with Mary in the 80s, it can also cause an extremely high demand meaning lower quality work might escape into the market because of time constraints.
http://www.wmagazine.com/artdesign/2008/11/mary_boone