Maria Chavez Wilcox is the President of Childhaven, where she oversees all aspects of the agency’s operations. She builds and nurtures relationships with everyone who is involved in keeping Childhaven viable – donors, community members, board members and staff.

Maria has more than 30 years of experience as a nationally recognized leader of nonprofit organizations. She earned a Master’s degree in Education from Boston University, and started volunteering at the Massachusetts Children’s Institute.  This experience led her to United Way, where she began her career with community-based nonprofits. She worked as a senior manager with United Way of King County, working with larger corporations like Boeing, and served for 15 years as President and CEO of United Way of Orange County, California.

As an organizational leader, Maria cites relationship building, strategic thinking and decisiveness as her greatest strengths.