With more than 15 years of leadership experience in healthcare operations, Maria brings a wealth of expertise in both private practice and community healthcare to her role at Esperanza. Her healthcare operations journey began in New York City, where she managed a private physical therapy practice, building its operations department, leading its expansion to multiple locations, and earning a respected reputation among the city’s top orthopedic surgeons.
Before joining Esperanza Health Centers, Maria served as the Director of Health Center Operations at Howard Brown Health—a Chicago-based Federally Qualified Health Center. There, she focused on operationalizing and leading vaccination clinics during the COVID-19 pandemic, standardizing and optimizing clinical operations, improving patient access and experience, and advocating for quality healthcare across the city.
Maria was drawn to Esperanza by a deep desire to give back to the community she came from, the community her family first called home in this country. She saw Esperanza as the perfect opportunity to apply her operational expertise to advance its mission of delivering health and hope to Chicago’s underserved. Maria takes pride in leading a team that reflects her identity and the community’s diversity, and is committed to being a leader who inspires, supports, and uplifts staff and patients alike.
In addition to her professional achievements, Maria is dedicated to empowering future women leaders, currently serving on the Advisory Board for the Women in Leadership grogram at Rockford University. Passionate about “reaching back and pulling up” by mentoring and coaching, Maria is dedicated to fostering leadership development among early-career professionals, cultivating the next generation of healthcare leaders. Maria completed her undergraduate studies at The University of Chicago and her graduate studies at Columbia University in NYC. She recently completed the Health Care Executive Program at UCLA’s Anderson School of Management.