Maria Darby

A Senior Vice President at Booz Allen Hamilton, Maria Darby leads the firm’s strategic communications business as part of its organization change effort, focusing on critical markets and service offerings in collaboration with defense, civil, global security, commercial, IT, EBA, and other internal teams.

Ms. Darby also develops Booz Allen’s strategic communications capabilities in organizational communications, stakeholder relations, change communications, public and media relations, and crisis communications.

With almost 30 years of experience assisting federal clients in developing and implementing communications and change strategies, Ms. Darby leads communications strategy development for a variety of Department of Defense (DoD) change initiatives that involve business and technology transformation, maturing Joint programs and initiatives, and personnel transformation.

She leads the firm’s key strategic efforts to support DoD’s Quadrennial Defense Review’s (QDR) Strategic Communications Roadmap, and serves as an advisor to the DoD’s Deputy Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs. She also supports messaging and stakeholder outreach for a number of Navy technology and operational initiatives; change management and communications efforts for HR and personnel transformation within the Army, Air Force, and at the Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD) level; and large outreach programs for the Army.

Ms. Darby initiated the strategic communications functional capability within the firm’s Organization & Management team with colleagues Grant McLaughlin and Kristy Hull, and continued its early development with Senior Vice President Jack Mayer.

During her career, Ms. Darby has supported federal agencies and led numerous high-profile federal efforts, including:

Department of Homeland Security’s standup
Internal Revenue Service’s modernization effort, for which she was an IRS Team Professional Excellence Award winner
Federal Emergency Management Agency’s post-Oklahoma bombing anti-terrorism efforts
Department of Energy’s massive weapons complex clean-up effort, and many more

Before joining Booz Allen in 1998, Ms. Darby was a vice president at Advanced Technologies and Laboratories, Inc. She is a member of the Public Relations Society of America and the International Association of Business Communicators, and has a B.A. degree in public communications from Wheeling Jesuit University.

profile posted October 2007