Maria Hernandez, PhD
President & COO of Impact4Health
Maria Hernandez, PH. D., has consulted to Fortune 100, public entities, foundations and non-profits for the past 17 years. A native Spanish speaker, she has also consulted in Mexico for a technology accelerator, with joint ventures in the US and Mexico, focused on call center development. A talented facilitator and strategist, Maria supports executive project teams to insure goals are aligned with strategy and managed effectively. She partners with senior leaders responsible for large scale change initiatives, professional development or diversity awareness programs to provide strategic and content expertise.
A graduate of the University of Texas at Austin, Maria is a Danforth Fellow and holds a doctorate in community psychology and began her career in academic administration at a private liberal arts college in Northern California. After 7 years teaching and managing cultural outreach programs on campus, she transitioned to a full-time consulting practice, MGH CONSULTING, focused on training, coaching executives, and coordinating strategic planning efforts. Within the year she was voted Outstanding Hispanic Entrepreneur by the Northern California Region of Hispanic Chambers of Commerce. Between 2009 and 2010 Maria was Managing Director of Western Region for Global Lead, LLC when they acquired her firm. Maria resumed her Northern California independent consulting practice when Global Lead merged with Novations.
A highly sought out guest speaker, Maria has provided regular commentaries to the Perspective Series of KQED FM in San Francisco and occasionally to Latino USA of Public Radio International. She has also written a column for Latina Style on careers and business and has been quoted in Forbes ASAP. Maria has presented at the Conference Board, the Multicultural Forum, and Women of Alpha Events in San Francisco and Austin.
Maria is passionate about coaching and mentoring young Latinas for career success and writes a regular column called Latina Cubicle Confidential-TM and serves as one of the coaches for participants at the UCLA Anderson School of Business Executive Education Multidimensional Leaders’ Institute. Maria is also co-Founder of LatinaVIDA, a nonprofit dedicated to inspiring the next generation of Latina leaders.