Maria Basescu
Senior Advisor
Maria Basescu has over 20 years of professional experience providing direction to strategic communications, particularly in healthcare, higher education, and government sectors. She has served as liaison to media, government and other corporate and community organizations, and as a registered lobbyist in Vermont and Massachusetts.
Ms. Basescu served as Vice President of External Affairs for Northern Berkshire Healthcare in Western Massachusetts, and Retreat Healthcare, a psychiatric and addictions treatment center in Vermont. In her executive capacity, her responsibilities included government relations, strategic planning, board relations, community relations, development, media, marketing and public relations. She served as a primary representative with local, state and federal legislative delegations, and state hospital and other professional associations
Ms. Basescu has also served as Director of Marketing for Marlboro College and the Marlboro Graduate & Technology Center, and as Public Relations Director for Emerson College’s Division of Performing Arts. Earlier in her career, Ms. Basescu served as Associate Director of Media and Public Relations for the Boston Mayor’s Office of Business and Cultural Development, where she managed media relations and sponsorships for Concerts on the Commons, a summer concert series in an outdoor, 10,000-seat venue on the Boston Common, to benefit the Fund for Boston Neighborhoods. She was also a Public Relations Account Executive with Wasserman Associates, Inc., whose corporate clients included the City of Boston and New England Life Insurance Company.
She has won awards for her communications materials from the New England Society of Healthcare Communications (NESHCO) and the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education (CASE). Ms. Basescu is also President of Annapurna Concerts, a concert and cultural events Production company which she founded in 1986.
Ms. Basescu has a B.A. in Sociology from Dartmouth College, and is a graduate of the Snelling Center for Government’s Vermont Leadership Institute. She is a member of the American College of Healthcare Executives, the New England Society of Healthcare Communications, and has served as an appointed member of the Massachusetts Hospital Association’s Standing Committee on Public Affairs (SCOPA). She is an avid environmentalist and a Trustee of the Windmill Hill Pinnacle Association, a land conservation organization in Southern Vermont.
