Maria Elena Campisteguy
senior executive vice president | principal
Maria Elena Campisteguy
If you are going down a road and don’t like what’s in front of you, and look behind you and don’t like what you see, get off the road. Create a new path.— Maya Angelou
Maria Elena passionately believes that effective, lasting solutions for the world’s most challenging issues come from the authentic engagement, collective creation and powerful voices of communities most impacted.
Her career has been centered on advancing equity and creating transformational change in organizations and communities.
She excels at designing strategies and approaches that bring people from diverse backgrounds, sovereign nations and competing political beliefs together to discover values they hold in common, inspire a shared vision and develop actionable plans. Her work leads to changing systems, policies and practices; expanding programmatic reach; building unexpected relationships; deepening cultural understanding; and increasing capacity.
Working in the U.S. and Mexico, Maria Elena’s areas of expertise include:
- Strategic and intercultural communication
- Brand development and positioning
- Organizational strategy and innovation, with a racial and social equity lens
- Cross-sector collaborations and partnerships
- Market and stakeholder research; impact assessment
- Community outreach and engagement; facilitation of multilingual, multicultural groups
Experience
- Associate publisher, Latina Style Magazine
- Executive director, Oregon Council for Hispanic Advancement
- International marketing experience in Latin America and Japan, as well as economic development work in Africa
Maria Elena has a Master of Business Administration with an International Marketing Specialization from Portland State University, a Bachelor of Science in Language Arts in Russian and Spanish from Georgetown University and a Nonprofit Management Certificate from the University of Michigan.
In Community
Maria Elena is a past chair for Latino Network’s board of directors. She recently completed three terms on the Gray Family Foundation board of trustees and remains on its equity committee. She is an alumni interviewer for Georgetown University.
Maria Elena loves to explore the natural world and foreign lands. She is a scuba diver and outdoor enthusiast who also lives to travel and learn about new cultures, music, languages and traditions.