Maria (Lourdes) Zavala has over 38 years of experience working for TRIO and other university-funded college access programs. As a TRIO consultant, Lourdes has experience in project and grants management, program development and implementation, professional development, proposal writing, and training facilitation. As a consultant for NEC, Lourdes specializes in preparing for all TRIO program Annual Performance Reports, database management, and proposal development. 

Lourdes received her Bachelor's and Master's degrees in Business Administration from Colorado State University.