Maria Teresa Kumar

María Teresa Kumar is the founding President and CEO of Voto Latino and an Emmy-nominated contributor with MSNBC. She is the host of Changing America for MSNBC.Com. Under her leadership, Voto Latino has won numerous awards including two Webby Honoree awards, and several Promax awards for best in ethnic marketing. Voto Latino has become a key factor in national elections by directly registering a quarter million new voters and influencing millions more through viral, celebrity-driven campaigns. María Teresa serves on the national boards of EMILY’s List, Planned Parenthood Federation, and the Latino Leaders Network, and is a Hunt Alternative Fund Prime Mover and a Council on Foreign Relations Term Member. She was recently named a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum. She is a co-chair of the Aspen Task Force on Learning and the Internet which explores the future of connected education. She is a frequent guest analyst on NPR and PBS, a recent panelist on Bill Maher’s HBO show, an opinion writer for national publications, and a sought after speaker at major conferences including Google’s Women Global Leadership conference, Intel, General Electric, SXSW, NetRoots Nation, Personal Democracy Forum, Harvard Law and TEDx. She started her career as a legislative aide for then Democratic Caucus Chair Vic Fazio, and graduated from Harvard’s Kennedy School and the University of California at Davis.