Maria Velasco

Maria Velasco is Founder and CEO of Beyond Inclusion Group, a comprehensive diversity, equity and inclusion firm committed to helping organizations increase engagement, innovation and performance by fostering 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 area of diversity, equity and inclusion. She has over 15 years experience developing and implementing sustainable diversity and inclusion initiatives to help strengthen and leverage diversity for organizations from a variety of sectors with the goal of reducing bias, increasing cultural competence, 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. Her Master thesis (2017) focused on defining the role of the transformational leader in leveraging resistance around implementation of diversity and inclusion change initiatives. Her research has been recently published in the international peer-reviewed, Organization Development Journal.