Maria Smith

Maria Smith has been Secretary General of Axfoundation since 2019 and has the overall responsibility for the business and the organization. Maria has more than twenty years of experience form leadership positions and from working with sustainability issues in a corporate context within, FMCG, the engineering industry and the service sector, among others.

Maria worked for ICA with responsibility for leading and developing the strategic sustainability work within ICA Gruppen, focusing on issues such as climate, food waste, plastic, public health and social responsibility. For many years Maria also worked as an environmental and sustainability consultant, running complex projects in the business sector. She also has experience from working across borders and internationally from, among other places, China and Mexico.

In the role of Secretary General, Maria reports to the board of Axfoundation. She also holds several board positions of her own, include vice chairman of the board of the Nätverket för hållbart näringsliv (Network for sustainable business sector) and as a member of the board of the company Ekoligens. She was also part of the expert group in the government's animal antibiotics commission in 2022.

Maria has a MSc in chemistry from Umeå University and an Executive MBA degree from Stockholm School of Economics. Parts of her studies were carried out in Spain and in Vietnam.