Maria McCandless
Director of Communications
Maria McCandless (she/her/hers) is the Director of Communications for the Field Foundation of Illinois, supporting leadership and all communications across the foundation and collaborating with its strategic partners.
Previously, Maria founded and led McCandless Communications, a communications consultancy.
Prior to that, Maria was the Managing Director for CEO Communications at Accenture, a global technology and consulting company. In her 24 years at Accenture, Maria supported communications for five consecutive CEOs.
Maria began her career as a journalist for a daily newspaper in the northwest suburbs of Chicago. She also spent time as a meeting and event planner in Chicago before beginning her career at Accenture.
Maria has degrees in Broadcast Journalism and Spanish from the University of Wisconsin, Madison. She lives in Woodstock, Illinois, with her husband, two almost-grown children, and a big yellow lab named Rocket. She enjoys traveling with her family, the outdoors, and live music.