Maria-Pia has 10 years of experience in financial sector acceleration in emerging and frontier markets.​ She has been with the Cardano Development group since 2014, where she specialises in business development for Cardano Development's incubator, supporting the start-ups to reach scale.​ Maria-Pia has a Master in European Policy from Université Catholique de Louvain and a BA in Economics and Social Studies from Trinity College Dublin.