MARIA DEL ROSARIO SANTOS

Director, Operations and Administration

Maria del Rosario Santos is a human resources professional currently in her sixth year of leadership with the Harris County Toll Road Authority (HCTRA) as the human resources outreach coordinator. In this role she is responsible for keeping over 1,500 employees positively engaged with carrying out the mission of the Authority by organizing professional development workshops and seminars, health and wellness fairs, and other morale-sustaining activities. Before working for the HCTRA, Maria served 10 years in various roles with the Houston Independent School District, showing herself as a leader in a broad range of activities impacting student achievement. She proved to have a skill set agile enough to work as a campus business operations manager responsible for all the logistical activities of running a school as well as in the role of parent engagement coordinator, developing relationships with parents from specialized communities across the district and empowering them to access resources for their children.

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As the daughter of Mexican immigrants, Maria recognizes that so many supported her in her quest to achieve her goals. For this reason, she holds a deep commitment to reinvesting in the community. Maria spends her spare time teaching workforce skills to low income immigrant groups as well as supporting orphaned children at a community-based foster home.  

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Maria holds a Master in Public Administration degree from the University of Houston and a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology from Colorado College. She is bilingual in Spanish.