Maria is chair of the Open Property Data Association which she launched after chairing the Home Buying & Selling Council technology group for 2 years. OPDA was set up in June 2023 to improve the homebuying experience through digitisation, trust, and interoperability of smart property data. It is responsible for the development and adoption of open property data standards across industry and government stakeholders. Representing OPDA’s member firms on the Smart Data Council, Digital Property Market Steering Group, and other working groups, Maria promotes a customer-centric, mission-led drive for progress and fosters collaboration.

Maria also provides mortgage transformation services to lenders and tech firms through her consultancy, Digital Cat, as well as being a Non-Exec Director at United Trust Bank and GenH and board advisor to Coreco, Plotify, and FinTech North. 

With 30 years' experience in management, Maria has held roles across various sectors including travel, utilities and for the last 20 years, financial services where she was awarded the inaugural Women in Finance Award for services to banking by HM Treasury. Before launching OPDA and setting up Digital Cat, Maria was Director of Lending at Atom bank where she designed and launched the first fully digital mortgage in the UK. She is a vocal advocate for equality, diversity, and the role of data and technology in improving financial wellbeing and customer experience.