Norma Maldonado
Norma Maldonado is an experienced administrative and facilities leader with 25 years in the field, currently serving as Director of Administrative Services and Facilities at Stout, a global advisory firm. In this role, she oversees real estate strategy, facilities operations, and administrative services across more than 26 offices. She leads a growing team of approximately 45 professionals and is responsible for ensuring that workplace environments are efficient, functional, and aligned with the firm’s evolving hybrid work model. Her work includes frequent travel, cross-office coordination, and oversight of multiple concurrent projects that support the firm’s global operations.
Norma began her career at Harley-Davidson Financial Services in her early 20s, starting as a receptionist. At the time, she describes herself as quiet and shy, but highly observant, learning by watching leaders and studying how they navigated challenges and led teams. She steadily advanced through roles in accounts payable, executive support, and office management, ultimately supporting the chief financial officer who later became president and served as a key mentor in her development. Over 14 years, she grew into an executive assistant and office manager role with direct reports, building a strong foundation in operations, leadership support, and organizational management.
After more than a decade with Harley-Davidson Financial Services, Norma transitioned to Stout over 18 years ago, seeking new opportunities for growth. Within her first few months, she was entrusted with overseeing administrative services across multiple offices, quickly expanding her responsibilities to include facilities management and office relocations. She was later promoted to director after several years of demonstrated leadership and impact. One of her proudest achievements includes leading the relocation of Stout’s Chicago headquarters, reducing the footprint from 46,000 square feet with 179 seats to 22,000 square feet with 159 seats, creating a highly efficient and well-received workspace. Today, she is part of the firm’s future of work team and continues to lead major office transitions, including recent projects in Los Angeles and Washington, DC, as well as ongoing initiatives in Boca Raton and Dallas.
• Robert Morris University - Illinois
What do you attribute your success to?
I give credit to my amazing parents who were immigrants. My father and mother's work ethic truly taught me what it was to be a hard worker. I was working very young, and I always had to put one step forward. We come from a family of 8 siblings, so there was a lot of mouths to feed, and we all contributed. The work ethic that my parents instilled in me, and just being an honest person and being a good person, is what has really led me to where I am today. If you're a good person, you're an honest person, you work hard, you're going to get to where you want to be. You know, you fumble along the way, but you've got to just get up and keep going. I'm so grateful to my parents that they brought us to this beautiful country so that we could have a better life. I come from very humble beginnings. My parents came here with absolutely nothing, and I'm very proud that I was able to take advantage of that opportunity and really make something of myself.
What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
The most important guidance I received came from Donna Zirconi at Harley-Davidson Financial in Chicago. She was an amazing woman who took me under her wing, believed in me, and challenged me. She gave me opportunities and took me out of my comfort zone, which I really needed. I needed that push, and I needed someone to see in me what I didn't see in myself at that time. I was someone who was very humble and very shy, and she got me out of my shell. As I evolved and moved on to Stout, we still stayed in touch, and at some point she was coming to me for advice, asking me to help her find admins or meet with people, because she knew that I'd grown into that role as a leader. I give so much credit to Donna because she is someone very special and important in my life who really helped me evolve in my career. The key lesson was to always have a mentor, someone that you can bounce ideas from, and to pay attention to those around you who you want to grow up to be. Listen to how they lead and what their style is.
What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
I have a daughter who is 25 years old, and something I always share with her and my other two adult children is that the sky is truly the limit. Although it sounds cliche, it's true if you focus on your dreams and you work hard. I come from very humble beginnings as an immigrant with immigrant parents that came here with absolutely nothing. I'm so grateful to my parents that they brought me and my seven siblings to this beautiful country so we could have a better life, and I'm extremely proud of being able to really take advantage of that and never take for granted the opportunity to make something of myself. Don't be afraid to take risks and take the bull by the horns and truly put yourself out there. When I started at Harley-Davidson Financial, I was a very quiet and shy person in my early 20s. I began as a receptionist, but I truly paid attention. I was always observing people who were in leadership roles, seeing what their style was and how they approached different obstacles and how they took on challenges. Always have a mentor, someone you can bounce ideas off of. I have a pretty big group of administrators on my team today, and a lot of them will come to me for advice, and I look forward to helping them in their career, assisting in their growth, and being that source of guidance for them. At the end of the day, don't be afraid to put yourself out there, don't be afraid of taking the leap, believe in yourself, and the sky truly is the limit.
What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
Right now we're really focused on what the future of work looks like, especially with COVID and so many people working remotely. The big question is how do we bring people back into the office and what kind of environment can we create to really start seeing our folks coming back? We have a group of people at the firm that are all leaders called the future of work team, and we talk about different ways to approach this. We're also trying to embrace AI, which is the elephant in the room. We are a firm that's very forward-looking, not just with our office moves and our design, but with technology as well. We come across challenges and curveballs along the way. For example, I'm dealing with it right now with our Boca office where the permitting process has taken way longer than I thought. You just need to learn to pivot and adapt. There are always new projects and opportunities, which keeps things exciting and never-ending.
What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
Being an honest person and being a good person are what's most important to me. The work ethic that my parents instilled in me has been fundamental to everything I do. I believe that if you're a good person, you're an honest person, and you work hard, you're going to get to where you want to be. You fumble along the way, but you've got to just get up and keep going. I'm in a place where I'm very happy with where I am in life and where I am in my career, and I'm learning every day. I want to inspire other women and show them that this little girl with humble roots can get to where she is and be recognized for her work, for her career, for her journey. I want other people to feel that they can do it too. I also value being able to help others grow. I look forward to helping my team members in their career, assisting in their growth, and being that source of guidance for them now that I've reached a point of success and a place of leadership.