Maria Thorbourne is a director at PLUS Communications. In her role, she develops strategic communications for PLUS’ corporate, nonprofit, trade association and issue advocacy clients.

Prior to joining PLUS, Maria was senior manager of public affairs at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University’s public policy think tank. During her tenure she worked at Hoover’s Stanford and Washington, D.C. offices, developing and executing media outreach strategies.  Prior to Hoover, Maria worked at a prominent public affairs firm in Sacramento, California, where she served as an account executive on two winning statewide ballot initiative campaigns.  She also served three years in Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s administration as a policy assistant in the legislative affairs unit.

Maria is originally from Northern California and a graduate of UC Davis.  She lives in Washington, D.C.

What you may not know about Maria

Maria is a huge fan of horror movies.

As a proud California native, Maria is an In-N-Out Burger loyalist and thinks Shake Shack is overpriced and overhyped.

A surprising fact to most people: Maria was a cheerleader in high school.