Maria Malayter, PhD, NBC-HWC
Maria Malayter, PhD, NBC-HWC, is a business strategist, executive coach, professor, speaker, and consultant with more than 25 years of experience across business leadership, higher education, wellness, nonprofit work, and organizational consulting. She is a National Board Certified Health and Wellness Coach, Certified Wellness Practitioner, and Intercultural Development Inventory Qualified Administrator. Her work spans Fortune 500 companies, academic institutions, government, military, and nonprofit organizations, where she is recognized for helping leaders and organizations navigate change, improve performance, and build sustainable, wellness-centered cultures. Her guiding philosophy is helping people become successful on their own terms by aligning personal purpose with professional goals.
In her academic role, she teaches at the university level, where she designs curriculum, conducts research, mentors students, and contributes to the development of new knowledge in leadership, business psychology, behavioral science, communication, and wellness. She is committed to inspiring learners to achieve their goals through practical, applied education and innovative teaching approaches. In her consulting and advisory work, she partners with the Small Business Development Center and other organizations to support entrepreneurs and leaders in strengthening operations, improving strategy, and preventing burnout through wellness-focused leadership practices. Her work emphasizes helping leaders adopt healthier, more sustainable ways of leading while maintaining performance and organizational impact.
As the founder of Innovations in Change LLC, Dr. Malayter also leads consulting and coaching programs, including a Business Growth Academy designed to help small businesses scale and thrive. She advises and coaches leaders to increase effectiveness, build resilience, and lead with greater self-awareness and purpose. Her approach is deeply influenced by early mentors and trailblazers, including pioneering women in academia, law, and science, whose encouragement shaped her pursuit of advanced education and service-oriented leadership. She believes that continuous learning and self-understanding are essential to effective leadership and to living a meaningful, well-balanced life.
• Marketing and Public Health
• National Board Certified Health and Wellness Coach
• Certified Wellness Practitioner
• Certificate in Health and Wellness Coaching
• Worksite Wellness Specialist Certification
• Certificate in Women's Entrepreneurship from Cornell University
• Certificate, HERS Summer Institute for Women in Higher Education Administration
• Certificate, Summer Institute in Gerontology
• Certificate, Women's Entreprenuership
• Walden University - PhD
• Ball State University - MA, Org Comm
• Ball State University - BS, Journalism
• Hermes Society Member for Lifelong Learning Commitment
• Faculty Award for Service Learning (2019 and 2020)
• Ted Rubenstein Inspired Teaching Award (2022)
• Leadership Award
• Official Selection for Photography, Juried Art Exhibition
• Lifetime Academic Achievement Award
• Second Place, Human Interest Article
• Emerging Scholar Nominee
• Lifelong Learning Recognition Award
• Award Recipient
• Letter of Appreciation
• Letter of Commendation
• Certificate of Appreciation
• Guest of Honor
• Best Feature Article, Phoenix Magazine
• National Retail Federation Foundation
• Society of People Analytics
• Harvard Business Review Advisory Council
• Eta Sigma Gamma Public Health National Honor Society
• Alpha Sigma Alpha National Sorority
• Alpha Sigma Alpha National Sorority
• Stephen Ministry
• Do What You Love Foundation (Founder)
• Beautifully Empowered Nonprofit (Board Member)
• Small Business Development Center (Advisor)
What do you attribute your success to?
I think my faith is number one, and then resilience and grit. I've been faced with really heavy challenges in life and being able to get through them has shaped who I am. To be really candid, my parents died when I was very young, and going through that experience, I was thinking, okay, well, I'm still alive, and I've got a lot of challenges going on. How can I be inspiring to people? Not everybody walks around and loses their parents when they're young, so it's about how you navigate life from that. How can I endure and be resilient in these hard times, and then be able to help other people see that they have strength within? I guess I always have a sense of purpose and meaning in life. The wellness part is also important. I'm not saying I do that always well, but just knowing that framework of being well, being mindful of your wellness in all dimensions, physical, intellectual, social, spiritual, emotional, all those dimensions of wellness are so important to live a really full and well life. Reading that early on kind of gave me a roadmap.
What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
I'm thinking of a professor that I had most recently in a certificate that I just did. His message to us was that he's in the balcony rooting for our success. The best career advice is really, one, I'm taking care of myself, but two, how am I rooting for other people? Like, how am I celebrating their success? How can I continue to build other people up? He wanted us to know he was in the balcony for us, and so I want to be in the balcony for other people, celebrating their success.
What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
It'll be the same theme: continue learning and staying up to date. Interview people in the field. And know yourself.
What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
I think that people really need to learn who they are individually, and I know a lot of people say they need to really dig in and know who they are to really be effective. And so sometimes people say, you need to do the work. Well, people really need to do the work on themselves to be able to understand other people. I think there's a lot of people that have hidden trauma or different things going on with mental health, and I think that everybody, if they kind of did some work on themselves, they could be more loving with people, they could be more effective in their life. I keep finding people pushing forward in leadership and doing business, and then they're surprised when they're not really aware of what's going on with people. They didn't take the time to invest to learn about that kind of thing, to be able to help people grow. I think that's a big problem, because there's tons of anxiety out there. To be able to work with somebody experiencing that, you have to know about it. We need trauma-informed leaders.
What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
I have to say wellness, right? But I also have to say faith. And then learning, I mean, I think learning and growth. And relationships, you know, all types of relationships.