Dr. Maria Todd is a frequently invited speaker and guest lecturer at conferences and university programs throughout North America, Central and South America, Europe, and Asia. She is highly regarded as a key opinion leader by many national health ministries, government trade and economic development agencies, hospitals, hotel associations, and medical societies. 

She has presented more than 2600 educational seminars, webinars, teleconferences, panel discussions, and keynote presentations to more than 60,000 healthcare professionals in 17 countries since her debut as a professional speaker in 1989.

Since 1987, she has held many roles in healthcare as a former hospital administrator, medical group administrator, surgical nurse, HMO provider contracts coordinator, health law paralegal and dispute resolution mediator, and was former firefighter and paramedic. She holds advanced degrees in health administration, with emphasis in organizational development, and undergraduate degrees in music and biology. 

She currently holds certifications with the Federal Emergency Management Agengy (FEMA) in hazardous materials for medical personnel, small business disaster planning and emergency planning.  She continues to utilize her training and experience as a fire inspector, arson investigator, and life safety code specialist from her time spent as a firefighter, and has assisted several organizations prepare for accreditation inspections by the Joint Commission International (JCI), the Joint Commission, the Accreditation Association for Ambulatory Health Care (AAAHC) and numerous state licensure inspections and re-inspections with a 100% success rate.

No stranger to performance under pressure, Maria is also an accomplished musician and has performed professionally on several instruments from the age of 13.  She's been known to occasionally  jam with the band or belt out the blues relaxing at after-hours gatherings with colleagues and friends at healthcare conferences and events around the world.