Maria returned to her home town of Christchurch in 2020 and is Head of Brand & Customer Engagement at The New Zealand Merino Company. She joined the board in March 2021.

With proven success in senior integrated marcoms, creative and event management roles in New Zealand and overseas, Maria has worked with some of the world’s leading brands, designing and implementing transformational marketing and communications solutions.

Maria managed her own event management and marketing
consultancy business for 10 years, specializing in premium products and luxury brands, and spent nine years in the US in senior strategy and creative roles for a leading global marketing agency.  Returning to New Zealand, she steered the inhouse content agency at Air New Zealand to delivery award-winning content across multiple storytelling platforms.

She is passionate about developing high-performance teams; where galvanizing around a true purpose, striving for commercial results and creative excellence, and harnessing and exploring innovation is part of every day.