Maria Montoya-Elder

RMDS Consulting was founded on the belief that strong regulatory compliance, risk management, and governance shouldn’t just keep organizations out of trouble—they should help them move forward with confidence.

 

With more than two decades of experience spanning Wall Street, global financial institutions, community banking, and fintech, Maria Montoya-Elder brings a practical, real-world perspective to an industry where the regulations may be complicated, but the solutions don’t have to be.

 

Throughout her career, Maria has built and strengthened audit and risk programs, navigated complex regulatory environments, partnered with executive teams and boards, and worked alongside regulators. Along the way, she learned something important: the best solutions aren’t simply compliant on paper. They have to make sense, withstand scrutiny, and actually work in the real world. That philosophy became the foundation of RMDS Consulting — Risk Management Development Solutions.

 

Maria’s approach is refreshingly straightforward: understand the risk, ask the right questions, follow the evidence, and find a solution that actually works. And when something doesn’t make sense? Ask another question. RMDS also represents something more personal—a new chapter built from more than twenty years of experience, a few hard-earned lessons, and the belief that sometimes the difficult decisions are the ones that lead you exactly where you’re supposed to go. Maria is especially grateful to the family, friends, mentors, colleagues, and industry peers who have supported her, challenged her, opened doors, shared advice, made introductions, and cheered her on along the way. A career spanning more than two decades is never built alone, and neither is a new business.

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The road hasn’t always been easy, and some of the choices along the way certainly haven’t been simple. But every challenge, opportunity, detour, and occasional “well, I didn’t see that coming” moment has contributed to the experience and perspective behind RMDS today. And for everyone who said, “Maria, you should really do this on your own someday”—apparently, she was listening.

 

While Maria takes risk seriously, she doesn’t believe everything has to sound like a regulatory handbook. Outside of work, she is the proud mother of two adult sons, and her Frenchie, Lola, is rarely far from her side—and may or may not consider herself RMDS’s Chief Morale Officer. When Maria isn’t traveling, catching a live concert, or creating one of her signature floral arrangements, there’s a pretty good chance you’ll find her doing an audit.

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Some people have hobbies. Maria has workpapers.

And now, she has RMDS.