Maria Fernandez now runs her own company providing strategic advisory services to private and government organisations and sits on a number of Boards.
Maria has been a Deputy Secretary in the Department of Home Affairs, the first woman head of an Australian Intelligence Agency, as the Director of the Australian Geospatial-Intelligence Organisation, and Deputy Director of the Australian Signals Directorate.She has considerable experience in Defence and National Security, principally at the strategic level.
Maria was the Head of Defence Capability, Investment and Resources, responsible for managing the then $260b Defence Capital Investment Plan. She was also part of the leadership team of the 2009 Defence White Paper.
For several years Maria served as Chief of Staff to the Minister for Defence and the Minister for Education, Science and Training.
Maria is a graduate of the Harvard Business School Advanced Management Program and was awarded the Public Service Medal in the Australia Day 2017 Honours List.