Maria Fernanda Corral, Vice President of Global Talent Growth for Children International (seated in center), is featured with members of the global nonprofit's Guayaquil, Ecuador staff and with a group of Children International Into Employment participants graduating from a women's leadership program.
At Children International, the mission to end poverty for good is powered by people, and it’s Maria Fernanda Corral’s responsibility to ensure that those people – more than 1,200 employees – can develop and thrive.
Maria Fernanda serves as Vice President of Global Talent Growth for the Kansas City-based nonprofit, which helps young people in 10 countries – including Ecuador where she is based – build brighter futures.
A native of Ecuador, Maria Fernanda became the organization’s first executive hired remotely outside of the United States in 2019.
She was tapped to lead one of Children International’s most mission-critical functions: cultivating a high-performance culture of belonging and developing leaders and teams to deliver sustainable results. During her tenure, she has focused on equipping employees (regardless of the working location) with the right mindset, skills, and tools to succeed.
Maria Fernanda has devoted her career to seeing people’s potential, building cultures that enable growth, and partnering with leaders to build accountability and workplace cultures where people feel valued and empowered to deliver on the organization’s mission and goals.
A seasoned executive with more than 30 years of experience in the human resources field in Latin America and the United States, she considers listening and valuing others’ perspectives to be one of her unique strengths.
“More than using my voice, I like to listen to the voices of others,” she says. “Engaging in the right conversations helps us stay focused on what truly adds value and keeps us connected to our why.”
Another one of her tasks soon after joining Children International was to revisit the name of the human resources department.
“‘Global Talent Growth’ signals something more expansive – a belief that every individual has potential and that growth must be actively cultivated,” Maria Fernanda says about the moniker that was eventually chosen. “Our ability to impact lives depends on our teams’ ability to deliver on our mission. Building the right culture to enable high performance is key.”
Indeed, just as Children International creates opportunities for children and youth to reach their full potential, the organization seeks to create those same conditions internally.
Maria Fernanda and her team partner with Children International colleagues across the globe to foster accountability and humanity, so that team members can experience psychological safety and channel their passion for the mission into results.
This is critical, Maria Fernanda says, because: “Not to be a high-performing organization translates into less lives impacted.”
As Children International turns its focus to strategically growing its reach, Maria Fernanda envisions a future defined by continuous evolution – defined by innovation, adaptability and team members who show up every day as the best versions of themselves.
“Our focus is on becoming a better, more efficient and more effective organization so that we can impact the lives of many more children and their families.”
Having worked in for-profit, consulting and nonprofit sectors with numerous organizations throughout her career, Maria Fernanda says one thing stands out at Children International.
“I have never heard so many collaborators express how much they love the organization and the work they do,” she reflects. “We are not perfect, but the level of commitment here uniquely positions us to transform lives and confidently say we want to end poverty for good.”
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