President and CEO
Maria is a trusted partner to senior leadership and trustees in private boarding and day schools and higher education institutions across the country. Under her leadership, EdwardsCo has doubled in size while adding recruiting, retention, and coaching services to its robust branding and creative strategy offering.
After a successful career in international strategy and marketing consulting, Maria sought more mission-driven work. Her education career began at Simmons College as the vice president for marketing, where she led institutional branding, admissions marketing, and advancement communications for the undergraduate college and five graduate schools. Maria’s team is credited with doubling enrollment, increasing student quality, and reducing the discount rate at Simmons by 50% within four 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.
Her love and appreciation for the work of independent schools began early—Maria is a graduate of the Wheeler School in Providence, RI. She also earned a BA from Emory University and an MBA and MA in international relations from Yale.
