Maria has a 30 year history in nonprofit where she began her career at the American Heart Association learning the basics of fundraising, board development and community engagement. She was Development Director, Executive Director and Senior Business Development Director while at the AHA. Maria joined The Tech in 2012 as Vice President of Development and has recently been promoted to Chief Philanthropy Officer. Maria leads the development team and has been responsible for The Tech raising over $150M from 30,000 donors during her tenure. Maria's CASC involvement started when she was 16 years old and attended a summer conference at Stanford. She then went on to become a counselor and gamma. Maria was part of the international team that developed Agenda 21, proposals which were presented to Secretary-General Mikhail Gorbachev in Moscow and President Ronald Reagan in Washington DC in 1988. Maria earned her BA degrees in Sociology and Psychology with a business emphasis from UCLA and recently completed her Masters in Nonprofit Leadership and Management from Arizona State University.