Maria-Elena Ochoa, MBA
Deputy Director
Against Abuse
Maria-Elena Ochoa is the Deputy Director at Against Abuse, Inc. in Casa Grande AZ. She is passionately driven to innovate, with a focus on whole person, trauma informed, culturally responsive services that are person/family centered, strength-based and choice-driven. She is currently the Chair of the Pinal County Interagency Council to End Child Abuse. the Chair of the Pinal County Coalition to End Homelessness, a board member of the Arizona Coalition to End Sexual and Domestic Violence as well as the Arizona Balance of State Continuum of Care. As the Director of the Division for Women at the Governor’s Office during the Napolitano and Brewer administrations, she oversaw the administration of grants statewide and led statewide innovations serving victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, stalking, teen dating violence and trafficking. She staffed the Governor’s Commission to Prevent Violence Against Women, SACT, the Governor’s Earned Income Tax Credit and the Interagency and Community Council on Homelessness. As the Chief of Medical Operations at Mountain Health and Wellness, she led and inspired the integration of primary care and wellness initiatives into a behavioral health organization, ultimately transforming it into a Federally Qualified Community Health Center. As the COO at Valle del Sol, she led an organizational shift from a traditional to a shared leadership model. As the Behavioral Health Administrator at Marc Center, she doubled the agency’s service array by creating, licensing, accrediting and implementing much needed new behavioral health services. She is the recipient of a Certificate of Special Congressional Recognition for being a First Things First AZ Early Childhood Regional Champion, the Certificate of Inclusion into Elite Women Worldwide, the Soroptimists International “Ruby Award” for Women Helping Women, Cambridge Executive of the Year Award, Representing Public Service and Outreach, and ASU’s Latina Excellence Award in Science and Medicine from ASU Gamma Alpha Omega Sorority, Inc. Born in Yuma Arizona, Maria-Elena earned her bachelor’s degree in Psychology from ASU and, her MBA, with an emphasis in Health Care Management, from the University of Phoenix. She is a graduate of the Brian Bacon “Oxford Leadership Academy,” Valle del Sol’s Hispanic Leadership Institute and the Latino Leadership Program, Mestiza Leadership International.
