Maria is the Principal Consultant at Hughes Consulting and Coaching, LLC. A former healthcare executive, she spent 16 years at Humana Inc., where she most recently served as Chief Inclusion and Diversity Officer. Her previous roles at Humana included Enterprise Vice President of Shared Business Solutions and Director of Performance Management for the Medicare Division. Prior to her tenure at Humana, Maria held a variety of leadership positions over 15 years at Ford Motor Credit Corporation.

In 2019, Black Enterprise named her one of the Most Powerful Women in Corporate Diversity. She was also inducted into the Southern Illinois University College of Business and Analytics Alumni Hall of Fame in 2016 and continues to serve on the college’s External Advisory Board.

Maria earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Business from Southern Illinois University, a Master of Science degree from Central Michigan University, and a Six Sigma Black Belt certification from Ford Motor Company.