MARIA ODIAMAR RACHO YOUNG EXECUTIVE LEADERSHIP

Born October 23rd, 1972, as Maria Odiamar, to Roger and Ofelia Odiamar, Maria was outgoing, social and outspoken from a young age. Arriving to Chicago from the Philippines a year after her parents, similar to many first generation immigrants, Maria’s aunt had customized the belts of her dresses to be double and triple in length so that she would be able to keep an eye on her because Maria would be waving and talking to anyone that she passed or took interest in. Maria is married to Charlie Racho, literally the boy next door from their family’s apartment unit when she was in first grade. They have two sons, Christian, age 22, and Jacob, age 15. While life’s plans unfold in different ways than one may expect, Maria believes things happen for a reason. She had her son Christian at aged 19 and had to drop out of school for a period of time. It was during this time that inspired by her faith, the support of her family and a timely book called, “Unlimited Power” by Anthony Robbins, she found an internal drive to not give up and serve as an inspiration to her son to work harder than she ever had before to give him stability and a life he deserved. Maria returned to school, finishing an Associates in Business Administration and Accounting, then on to a Bachelor’s in Computer Information Systems, and then later, when she had f o u n d h e r l i f e ‘ s w o r k o f o r g a n i z a t i o n a l development/effectiveness, completed an international Executive Master of Science in Organization Development at Pepperdine University.During the graduate program, Maria and her cohort learned from and worked with top thought leaders in the field of business and organization development and traveled to Lyon, France, Costa Rica and China to consult with corporate, non-profit and government organizations. Maria did this while working full time as a Sr. Organization Effectiveness Consultant at Allstate Insurance Company. During this journey, Maria and Charlie had their second son Coby. Professionally, Maria also changed roles from managing a sales office, becoming a systems analyst, managing a global technology workforce before taking on her current role. Maria also co-founded the Allstate Asian American Network, a formally recognized employee resource group that is leveraged as a strategic partner for insights and to help positively connect and impact the workforce, customers and community. Maria has also led or contributed to many enterprise level efforts as a change agent and as a leader and speaks externally at national conferences, most recently the 2013 Organization Development Network. Outside of the workplace, Maria is actively involved in the community. She has worked with the CEO and Director of HR of the United Way of Lake County as a pro-bono consultant to help them develop their diversity and inclusion strategy. She is currently on the board of the Organization of Chinese Americans (OCA) – Chicago and began a non-profit Filipino basketball league called Maharlika Chicago Basketball. Maria is passionate about connecting and strengthening the communities she is a part of and actively seeks and builds organizations that will do so. While at Pepperdine, Maria authored a thesis on “Success Factors of Asian American Leaders Who Retained their Cultural Identity While Becoming Successful in Corporate America”. Maria has been invited to present her findings at the National Association of Asian American Professionals’ National Convention, the Asian Americans Advancing Justice Coallition, the Asian American Leadership Forum, at the AJC Impact Fellows Program and her research his has been recognized by thought leaders in this field such as Jane Hyun, author of “Breaking the Bamboo Ceiling”. Maria aspires to continue in the field of organization development, and to deepen her understanding and involvement in social justice issues, particularly poverty and women/youth empowerment to continue to build her capability so that she can return to the Philippines one day to work with and empower Filipino street children. Maria was nominated by Ms. Elsie Sy-Niebar