Maria Flores Letelier
Maria is an expert in socially responsible marketing, having worked with various organizations to launch products and services that will create new value for lower income households. Maria’s signature projects include CEMEX’s renowned “Patrimonio Hoy” program, where she led the consulting team that worked hand in hand with client team for over 2 years initially, and then later as an ongoing advisor, eventually creating a board of advisors for Patrimonio Hoy, that included advisors from Northwestern University’s Kellogg Graduate School of Management. Another signature project is Sigma Alimentos “Gluten”, where Maria worked closely with the client team to develop a nutritious meat and soy based meal that would be accessible to all income groups. Gluten is widely successful all around Mexico, with distribution in hard to reach locations, and is expanding internationally.
Maria was the Mexico representative for Cheskin (now part of Added Value), working as a strategic director and as a senior consultant with Cheskin, a marketing firm focused on design and innovation. Prior to joining Cheskin, Maria worked as a partner in a consulting firm she co-founded (Market Expansion Partners) and previous to that, she led the Strategic Innovation Practice at Business Design Associates . She has led client engagements through the entire innovation process, starting with generating unique consumer insights and designing innovative product concepts to designing interaction points.
Maria has published in: Marketing Research, “Taking An Expanded View of Customer’s Needs: Marketing Research For Aiding Innovation (With Spinosa and Calder); in Kellogg on Integrated Marketing, “Strategies for Viral Marketing” (With Calder and Spinosa), The California Management Review, with the article “Developing Productive Customers” (With Flores and Spinosa), in Futures Research Quarterly with an Article on “Scenario Planning”, and the latest Kellogg on Marketing book with a chapter on “Marketing to the Bottom of the Pyramid” (with Calder and Kolsky).
Maria received her B.A. at University of California at Berkeley. highest honors distinction in Philosophy and Masters of Management degree J. L. Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University.