Mrs. Maria Leonard is a professor of practice and internship coordinator for the Robert C. Vackar College of Business and Entrepreneurship at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV VCoBE). She specializes in teaching upper-level business management courses in topics ranging from Business Ethics, Sustainable Economic Development, Stakeholder Management, and Organizational Behavior.
Mrs. Leonard serves as faculty advisor for the UTRGV chapter of a global business student organization called Enactus, which in its first year of service was recognized as Rookie of the Year and has won the title of regional champion every year since its inception and were selected top 16 finalists during the National Expo and Competition in 2021. She now sits on the National Faculty Advisory Board for this Organization.
Mrs. Leonard has over 20 years of management experience in senior management positions in apparel manufacturing in the USA and Mexico and received her MBA from the University of Texas Pan American in the year 2000. She also holds a certification for Project Management in the Development Sector (PMD).
She has served as trainer for the youth entrepreneurship program sponsored by the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce Foundation. Additionally, she acts as a corporate trainer for the Texas Manufacturing Assistance Center at UTRGV and serves as a management consultant for a wide range of nonprofits and businesses in the Rio Grande Valley and Houston, TX.
She has been the recipient of the UTRGV Excellence in Education for Sustainable Development Award, the Women Empowerment Award by the Association of Accountants and Business Professionals at UTRGV, and UTRGV Faculty Advisor of the Year in 2020.
Additionally, she is very active in the community, having served as Board President for The Hidalgo County League of Women Voters, and Board President for Hidalgo County Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA). She currently sits on the Board of Directors for Casa Hogar MAMi, a boys and girls orphanage located in Reynosa, Mexico, as well as Proyecto Desarrollo Humano in Penitas TX, and is president of the Business Advisory Council for the PSJA Career and Technical Education Division.
Assistant Professor of Practice, VCoB
Robert C. Vackar College of Business and Entrepreneurship
Email:
maria.leonard@utrgv.edu
Phone: (956) 665-4068
