Full Name
Maria Burns
Job Title
Director, TLIM Program
Company
University of Houston
Speaker Bio
Dr. Maria Burns is the Program Director of the Technology Leadership & Innovation Management Program at the University of Houston. She parlays 20 years of experience in global maritime & logistics corporations in the areas of Finance, Operations Management, Shipbroking, Government Relations, Risk Management, and Emergency Response.
She is an elected UH Faculty Senator for Research and Scholarship, and an appointed Faculty Secretary for the College of Technology.
She has received security-related funding in excess of $1.3M as PI and Co-PI.
Since 2015 she serves as Director and Thrust Lead for Education and Workforce Development with the Borders, Trade, and Immigration Institute, a DHS Center of Excellence. Her academic studies entail Data Science, International Trade and Transport, and Political Science. Her breadth of knowledge allows her to research a wide variety of areas including Global Economic & Market Cycles, Risk Management, Security, Policy Analysis, etc. , A prolific author and course developer, in the past 10 years she authored 3 security books, and 25 academic & training courses and manuals.

For her contribution in the Transport Security field, she has won awards and prestigious memberships by the U.S. Coast Guard Aux. (2012), the Department of Public Safety (2016), the Private Sector Advisory Council under the Governor of Texas (2017), and the Emergency Management Association (2017). At a UH level, she received the BTI Institute Thrust Lead for Education Certificate of Excellence (2017), the UH Provost’s Excellence in Research Certificate (2016), and Provost’s Excellence in Research Letter (2021).
A respected public speaker, her work is featured in leading global and industry media including Reuters, NASDAQ, Maritime Executive, Yahoo News, ABC, Foxbusiness, Port Technology, etc.
Maria Burns