Maria Bediako brings over 17 years of experience – and a wealth of knowledge –  to the role of Senior Vice President of the Developmental Disabilities Division. As Senior Vice President, Maria is responsible for the overall delivery of services within The Foundling’s Developmental Disabilities Division. As a leader, she works diligently to advocate with and for people with developmental disabilities and to collaborate with colleagues, families, policy makers, and stakeholders to help ensure that the people we support can reach their highest potential.

Maria began her career in the developmental disabilities field as a Direct Support Professional, and moved on to work as a Job Coach and Employment Specialist.  From there, she served in various functions in the field such as Deputy Director at the NYS Office for People with Developmental Disabilities and Director of Administration and Operations at the Building Services 32BJ Health Fund. Prior to assuming her current role, Maria served as Vice President of Policy and Organization Development at The Foundling for five years, where she oversaw Program Quality Assurance, Workforce Development and Training for the Developmental Disabilities Division. In this position, Maria created a strong system of oversight and accountability supporting programs with policies and a peer audit system that has created consistency of practice throughout all of the programs.