Maria Kim

President & CEO, REDF 

Maria Kim serves as the President & CEO of REDF, a venture catalyst investing in businesses that exist to hire overlooked talent throughout the country. REDF’s reach includes 230+ social enterprises generating over $1.59 billion in revenue, operating in 33 states and DC, and employing over 86,000 people. At REDF, Maria is a mission evangelist and strategy steward – helping REDF and others build an economy that works. For everyone.

Maria is a reformed insurance professional who describes the chapters of her career as private, purpose, and now practice: private sector in insurance, purpose sector as CEO of Cara Collective helping people experiencing homelessness and poverty get back to work, and now consultative practice at REDF.

Maria serves on the advisory boards of the First Women’s Bank and the University of Chicago Inclusive Economy Lab. She is a 2008 Leadership Greater Chicago Fellow, a 2012 American Marshall Memorial Fellow, a 2018 Vital Voices Global Ambassador, a former co-chair within Chicago Mayor Lightfoot’s 2019 transition team, a 2020 Presidential Leadership Scholar, and a 2022 Distinguished Alumni in Public Service from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, where she received her MBA.

A social impact enthusiast, advocate, and entrepreneur, Maria knows firsthand we stand on the shoulders of those who came before us; and our job – or more like our opportunity – is to pave the way for others to stand on ours. She writes about that journey as it relates to her time leading Cara in Voice and Vocation: A workforce practitioner’s guide to building hopes, jobs, and opportunity.