Maria Thacker Goethe is the President & CEO of Georgia Bio, a role she assumed in 2019.
With over 18 years of experience Maria has helped build the organization into one of the top state bioscience and medtech associations in the country. Her a strong reputation for her industry knowledge and expertise with Georgia businesses, leaders and legislators, Maria has invigorated the life sciences sector statewide as the industry has seen dramatic growth in the last 4 years.
Maria’s skills span community outreach and organizing, member development, fundraising, workforce development, and design and management of various special projects and programs to increase community connections and resources. Additionally, she has been responsible for conceiving, developing, and executing a comprehensive internal and external communications strategy.
During her tenure, Maria has maintained a passion for public health and held various positions including Founding CEO of the Center for Global Health Innovation and Executive Director for the Georgia Global Health Alliance. Under her leadership, The Center for Global Health Innovation grew its network to over 700 public and private organizations, increased its annual revenue from $1 million to $12 million, and grew the staff from three to 10 full-time staff plus 115 contractors. It also launched a free global learning series documenting the history and nine key lessons learned from the campaign to eradicate smallpox.
Before her time at Georgia Bio, Maria participated in an ORISE fellowship at the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention/Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry in environmental investigations, working closely with the National Center of Environmental Health in Chemical Demilitarization.
Maria serves on the boards of the CJD Foundation, Southeast Life Sciences Association, KSU Research Foundation, Greater Atlanta Red Cross, FutureVerse, MyHealthID Global, as immediate past chair for the Council of State Bioscience Associations, and is a founding board member of the Coalition of State Bioscience Institutes. Most recently, she was named to Georgia Trend magazine’s 2023 and 2022 Georgia 500 List, 2023, 2022 and 2021 “100 Most Influential Georgians” list, 2022 Power 100 and a top visionary by Atlanta Business Chronicle and is a 2022 graduate of the Leadership Atlanta program. Additionally, Maria has volunteered for 11 years with the Junior League of Atlanta and serves on the Piedmont Atlanta Patient & Family Advisory Council.
Maria holds a master’s in public health from Tulane School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, and a Bachelor of Arts in Environmental Studies from Sweet Briar College. She lives in Atlanta with her husband, Patrick, and daughter Cecilia.