Leading philanthropic, communications and engagement strategy. She joined New York Life in 2000 and advanced through roles including Director and Corporate Vice President, helping create the award-winning Volunteers for Good and shape the Foundation’s philanthropic investment and workforce engagement strategy. For more than a decade, Maria has led childhood bereavement support strategy—designing purpose-aligned programs that embed grief-informed support across business areas and alignment with workforce engagement, and business priorities. Lead the founding of the Coalition to Support Grieving Students and architected the Grief-Sensitive Schools Initiative® and Grief-Supportive Workplace Initiative. Maria holds an MSW from NYU and a BA from Fordham.