Maria Regan Gonzalez is the first Latin American Mayor of Richfield, Minnesota, and also a senior Program Manager, community integration, at Blue Cross Blue Shield of Minnesota. She presently resides in Richfield, Minnesota^[1]

Maria Regan Gonzalez is a Latin American and she is devoted to advancing racial and social justice issues by bringing people together to improve health outcomes and create more equitable systems and policies. Maria is known for her authentic communication style and connecting the needs of the community to corporate strategy and local government.

She bagged her Bachelor of Arts, in global studies and Spanish, from the University of Minnesota. She is currently finishing her Master’s of Public Health from the University of Minnesota (2020).^[4]

Maria Regan is a co-founder of La Red Latina de Educacion Temprana (The Latin Early Education Network), a Network of over 250 Spanish speaking Child care providers working to change Minnesota's early childhood system and grow healthy and school ready children. is working to eliminate the systemic barriers that FFN: Family, Friend and Neighbor childcare providers face by providing quality trainings, educational opportunities and Leadership development to their members.

Regan Gonzalez proved to be a strong leader dedicated to building a more prosperous, community-oriented city.

She championed a number of projects aimed at increasing diversity, sustainability, safety and accessibility for residents.

These initiatives included a tenant-protection ordinance, removal of barriers to hiring diverse police officers, increasing the age of tobacco sales, pursuing a dementia-friendly city designation, and organizing food waste collection.^[3]

On the 9th of January, 2019 Maria Regan Gonzalez became Richfield’s new mayor and the first Latina mayor in Minnesota history.

She is a recipient of the 2019 George W. Bush Foundation Fellowship. The Bush Fellowship is a grant of up to $100,000 over 12-24 months for people with potential to advance the region to become more effective leaders. It supports people who "think bigger and think differently" about how to solve problems in their community by investing in them through grants and other investments.

She was also recognized as a 2018 Change-maker by the Minnesota Women’s Press.

She received the Community Hero Award , Metropolitan Interfaith Council on Affordable Housing in 2017.

For outstanding service in coordinating community leaders, housing advocates and a preservation buyer to save 422 units of naturally occurring affordable housing at Seasons Parks Apartments and for paving the way for the City of Richfield to adopt ordinances that will provide tenants with more protections and preserve affordability in the City.

Recipient of the Public health Equity Cohort Fellow ,Human Impact Partners in 2014.

She was one of 10 inaugural members selected to participate in a training cohort that will build the capacity of public health leaders from across the county who are interested in advancing a health equity agenda as part of their work within public health agencies.^[2]