Maria Velasco

Founder and CEO of Beyond Inclusion Group

Maria Velasco is the Founder and CEO of Beyond Inclusion Group, a comprehensive diversity, equity, and inclusion firm committed to helping organizations increase engagement, innovation, and performance by empowering leaders to foster inclusive and equitable cultures where everyone thrives and belongs.

Maria is a strategic organizational development and leadership consultant for organizations seeking transformational change in the areas of diversity, equity, and inclusion. She is driven by her personal mission of transforming workplace cultures into inclusive and equitable environments for all.

Maria has over 20 years of experience developing and implementing sustainable diversity and inclusion initiatives to help strengthen and leverage diversity for organizations from a variety of sectors by reducing bias, increasing cultural competence, and promoting inclusion and institutional change. Her clients come from fields such as education, healthcare, mental health, technology, scientific, government, and non-profit organizations throughout the U.S. Maria uses Appreciative Inquiry and Action Learning methodologies to build cultures of inclusion and to foster intercultural understanding

Born and raised in Salamanca, Spain, Maria has a BA in Business Administration, a Master of Arts in Organizational Development and Leadership, and a Graduate Certificate in Organizational Consulting from Fielding University. She is a researcher and a published author. Her research on the role of the transformational leader in leveraging resistance around the implementation of diversity and inclusion change initiatives has been recently published in the international peer-reviewed Organization Development Journal.