About
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Maria serves as the Aspen Institute’s Vice President for Strategic Development. She is responsible for guiding Institute-wide strategic planning; helping to lead development of specific initiatives and partnerships; and stewarding the Institute in building sustainable structures and practices to ensure excellence into the future.
Maria has more than twenty-five years of professional experience as a nonprofit executive, strategic business consultant, and litigation attorney. Former employers include the law firm Williams & Connolly and the consulting firm McKinsey & Company. Prior to joining the Aspen Institute, Maria led the youth division for North America at the global nonprofit Ashoka— a pioneer in the field of social entrepreneurship. She also founded an organization to promote food allergy safety in schools, camps, and daycares. Like many founders, Maria set out to solve a social problem that deeply touched her personal life. A few years later, she became CEO of the largest food allergy nonprofit in the country, the Food Allergy & Anaphylaxis Network (now known as FARE). Maria serves on a number of nonprofit boards and was appointed by the Secretary of Health and Human Services to serve on two advisory councils to the National Institutes of Health.
Maria earned her J.D. from Yale Law School and her B.A. in Mathematics, summa cum laude, from Duke University where she was an A.B. Duke Scholar. She was born in La Plata, Argentina.
