Maria Frizelle Roberts

MARIA FRIZELLE ROBERTS Never misses an opportunity to bring new perspectives to an issue by looking at “if we didn’t do it this way, how would we do it”. As a consummate leader, team member and team builder, she is constantly finding ways to drive innovation in her company, for her clients and for others she serves. Maria studies successful people, and that knowledge along with her personal drive, creates opportunities. Maria has an open style that fosters new ideas and collaboration throughout all levels of her organization.

Currently, Maria is the President & CEO of MFR Consultants that she established in 1989 and has grown to a 50+ person firm with a national footprint. As a lean and agile firm, MFR serves clients across a broad spectrum of industries including technology, defense, transportation and health & human services. This firm has been recognized many times for its expertise and value-creation through appointment to industry taskforces and government commissions. Recently, Maria has joined a program at the University of Pennsylvania’s Physical Sciences Oncology Center working with a team of Penn healthcare professionals and scientists towards “unraveling mechanistic links between chronic inflammation, chromosome instability and cancer evolution.”

Maria and her company have received recognition from Fortune Magazine as one of the fastest growing urban business in America, the Philadelphia City Council & Commonwealth of Pennsylvania as “Small Business Person of the Year”, and the Philadelphia District of the U.S. SBA as “Small Business Person of the Year”. Throughout her noteworthy career, Maria has served on numerous Boards of Directors including The Economy League of Greater Philaphelphia, Philadelphia African American Chamber of Commerce and Tabor Northern Community Partners.
Building on her experience as a healthcare administrator, Maria became a public health executive serving as Director of a large public health agency and for a national managed care organization. Under her leadership, innovative programs in managed care for underserved communities were developed and implemented – and they continue to be broadly used as a framework for success.

Maria holds a Master of Public Health (MPH) from the University of California at Berkeley and a Bachelor of Sociology from St. Joseph’s University. She is also a board certified Registered Nurse (RN). Maria received certification in supply chain management from the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth University. She received certification in Director Education from Drexel University’s Center for Corporate Governance.

Maria’s memberships include The Philadelphia of The Form of Executive Women and The Chamber of Commerce for Greater Philadelphia. As the only non-attorney, Maria was appointed a member of the Merit Selection Panel of the U.S. District Court for the appointment of U.S. Magistrate Judges for Eastern District of Pennsylvania. Shortly thereafter, she was named to the Philadelphia Bar Associations’ Commission on judicial selection and retention.

Her firm has been recognized many times for its expertise and value-creation through appointment to industry taskforces and government commissions. She was appointed as the only non-attorney,member of the Merit Selection Panel of the U.S. District Court for the appointment of U.S. Magistrate Judges for Eastern District of Pennsylvania. Shortly thereafter, she was named to the Philadelphia Bar Associations’ Commission on judicial selection and retention. She, recently, has been selected to joined a committe at the University of Pennsylvania’s Physical Sciences Oncology Center working with a team of Penn healthcare professionals and scientists towards “unraveling mechanistic links between chronic inflammation, chromosome instability and cancer evolution.”