Maria G. Arias is the CEO of Arias Ventures, LLC, a consulting firm specializing in strategy in several areas, including: diversity and inclusion, multicultural programs, and government affairs. Ms. Arias has an extensive national network of business legal professionals in these areas. Ms. Arias recently was the first Vice President of Diversity and Inclusion for Comcast Corporation. In this role, she established the Corporate Diversity & Inclusion department which oversaw diversity and inclusion related initiatives across Comcast Corporation, including Comcast Cable, NBCUniversal, Telemundo, and Comcast Spectacor. She led the company to national recognition as 1st among Fortune’s Best Companies for Diversity, 1st among cable operators and programmers in industry benchmarking, and top rankings from DiversityInc, the Human Rights Commission, the National Organization for the Disabled, Latina Style, Black Enterprise, and numerous other inclusion awards. In addition to launching initiatives in Governance, Workforce, Procurement, Programming, Community Investment, Ms. Arias managed the company’s 40+ member Joint Diversity Advisory Council, comprised of national civil rights leaders and business executives, who serve as advisors to the company on diversity and inclusion initiatives. Prior to her diversity role, Ms. Arias served as Vice President of Operations for Comcast Cable’s Southern Colorado systems, where she led technical operations and alternative sales channels. She also held various leadership roles at Comcast Cable, including Vice President of Operations for Comcast’s West Division, Interim Vice President of Technical Operations for the West Division, and Interim General Manager for Comcast’s Colorado Mountain Area and Tucson, Arizona cable systems. Before joining Comcast in 2007, Ms. Arias had leadership roles in law and government affairs at AT&T Corporation, AT&T Broadband, and Adelphia Communications. Earlier in her career, Ms. Arias was a partner with McDermott, Will & Emery, in Chicago, IL, specializing in litigation. Ms. Arias’ leadership has been recognized with honors and awards, among them: the Most Powerful Women in Cable, the Most Influential Minorities in Cable, Moves Power Women, the National Urban League’s Donald McGannon Award, and DePaul University’s Distinguished Alumni Award. Currently, Ms. Arias serves on the Board of ColorComm. Previously, Ms. Arias served on the Board of Directors for the Philadelphia Freedom Valley YMCA, the Board of Directors for Philadelphia’s Congreso de Latinos Unidos, the Free Library of Philadelphia, Solera National Bank, Denver Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, Latin American Education Foundation, Rocky Mountain Women in Cable & Telecommunications, the National Association of Multicultural Ethnicities, and Junior Achievement of Southern Colorado. Ms. Arias participated in the Harvard Business School Cable Executive Marketing Management Program, and she holds a Juris Doctor from Northwestern University’s Pritzker School of Law, and a Bachelor’s degree in Political Science from DePaul University. Ms. Arias recently relocated to Denver, Colorado. She is married to Thomas C. Pelto, and together, they have five children.