Maria Jaramillo is the Division Director for Financial Empowerment at NDI. She also serves as the Project Director for Empowered Cities, a national initiative that engages with service providers and municipalities to expand the financial empowerment of people with disabilities. Maria has extensive experience translating consumer research into insights for the design of new financial products and financial capability strategies. Prior to joining NDI, Maria carried out a secondment in the Office of Financial Education at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) in partnership with the nonprofit Microfinance Opportunities. In this role, she led the Bureau’s initiative to encourage financial institutions to offer consumers free access to their credit scores and translated consumer research into tools and resources for financial capability providers.

Prior to CFPB, Maria managed a multi-country program to evaluate how financial education can support the adoption of digital financial products including mobile banking. She provided technical assistance to banks and microfinance institutions designing financial education strategies and training tools for frontline staff and low-income consumers. Maria also launched and managed ACCION International’s remittances program which designed innovative financial services for immigrants and their families receiving remittances in Latin America. She holds a master’s degree in International Relations from the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University and a bachelor’s degree from Oberlin College. In her spare time, Maria enjoys yoga, learning German and going for hikes in nature.