One of Maria-Alicia’s closely-held values is that we have a responsibility to work with others to improve the quality of life across all communities. For over 20 years, Maria-Alicia has expressed this value by helping non profits develop data-driven, mission-guided insights. Maria-Alicia began her career at the Chicago Housing Authority using data to inform the development of strategic plans and community revitalization strategies. She then transitioned to consulting becoming Vice President of AREA, Inc., a national research and public policy consulting firm. At AREA, Inc., she supported clients in the public, private and non profit sectors in designing and implementing data collection and insight development strategies. In 2014, Maria-Alicia joined YMCA of the USA (Y-USA), the national resource office for YMCAs in 10,000 communities. As Senior Director of Insights, she oversees insights strategy driving towards the development of timely and actionable data and insights for the 2,700 YMCAs across the U.S.