Currently, Maria is CEO and President of EdwardsCo., a strategic communications company serving educational and education-related non-profits exclusively. Clients include Harvard, Yale, Oberlin, Smith, St. Paul’s School, Exeter, Deerfield, Groton, Agnes Irwin, Madeira as well as Massachusetts General Hospital and Partners HealthCare. Maria is a trusted partner to senior leadership and trustees in higher ed and independent boarding and day schools. After a career in international strategy consulting and high-tech startups, Maria sought more mission-driven work and started in education as the vice president for marketing at Simmons College where she led institutional branding, admissions marketing, and advancement communications for the undergraduate college and five graduate schools. Maria's team is credited with leading the effort that doubled enrollment at Simmons within 4-years. Maria and her teams have won several CASE and other industry awards for the overhaul of marketing materials, multi-media marketing, and industry research and analysis. Maria is currently the Advancement Chair for BSA Troop 1 in Sherborn and chair of Sherborn's Capital Budget Committee. Past volunteer positions include boards seats at The Boston Club and the School Committee in Dover, MA. Maria holds two degrees from Yale - an MBA from the School of Management and a Master’s in International Relations from the Graduate School for Arts and Sciences. She also holds a BA in economics from Emory University in Atlanta.Specialties: C-level strategy and marketing, market research, competitive positioning, brand development, and customer acquisition and retention along the life cycle. Bottom line results for student recruitment and institutional development. Multi-media and multi-channel, integrated approach. Education and education-related not-for-profits.