Mary Kreta partners with colleges and universities navigating complexity, change, and competing priorities. She is often brought in when institutions need an experienced thought partner who can quickly understand the situation, bring clarity to difficult decisions, and help leaders move from discussion to action.

Over more than two decades in higher education, Mary has held executive leadership and consulting roles focused on enrollment management, institutional strategy, and organizational effectiveness. She draws on that experience to help leaders across academic and administrative areas make complex decisions and turn institutional priorities into coordinated action.

As Vice President for Enrollment Management and Strategic Initiatives at the University of Montana, Mary led the university's Enrollment Management division and served in the Office of Strategic Planning and Implementation. Under her leadership, the university reversed a decade-long enrollment decline, increasing the incoming class by 47 percent and growing net tuition revenue for those classes by nearly 88 percent through a coordinated, cross-campus enrollment strategy. Previously, as Associate Vice Chancellor for Enrollment Management at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, she achieved 6 percent enrollment growth during financial exigency and further growth during the COVID-19 pandemic. Her consulting work has helped public and private institutions achieve record enrollment, navigate financial and organizational pressures, and improve institutional outcomes through leadership transitions.

Mary is known for her ability to see both the big picture and the practical realities of implementation. Her experience in both executive leadership and institution-wide strategic planning gives her a broad perspective on how decisions across academic and administrative areas influence one another and shape institutional outcomes. She understands that successful strategies must account not only for data and best practices but also for institutional culture, competing interests, limited capacity, and the relationships that shape decision-making. Working alongside leadership teams, Mary helps strengthen decision-making, establish shared priorities, and accelerate progress.

The support Mary provides depends on what an institution needs. Sometimes she serves as a strategic advisor to presidents and executive teams. Other times she facilitates planning, leads institutional initiatives, coaches emerging leaders, or provides additional capacity for projects that require experienced leadership. Across every engagement, her goal is the same: to help institutions make decisions, build internal capacity, and sustain progress.