The 2026 Rising Stars of the Profession: Maya Patterson

Maya Patterson is a consultant at Clarkston Consulting who helps organizations translate complex change into practical, adoptable ways of working. Her experience spans transformations across the consumer-packaged goods, enterprise software and consumer health industries, and remains grounded in people, processes and technology. Recently, she has focused on supporting the responsible use of AI within compliance-driven environments, particularly in consumer health.  

Maya is known for stepping into complex, high-visibility engagements at key transition points and bringing structure, continuity and momentum. She excels at aligning cross-functional teams and balancing strategic vision with practical execution, so that change is sustained beyond implementation. Her experiences have shown the value of a people-centered approach to transformation. She partners closely with clients to understand their priorities and constraints, redesign operating models, and align tools and workflows to business objectives. Her approach always begins with building strong working relationships and trust, ensuring transformation efforts deliver measurable impact rather than isolated solutions.