The Career
Three chapters. One discipline built from the inside out.
Most people who advise higher education have seen one side of it. Maya has worked across all three: inside the institution at every level, inside the consulting practice, and inside the OPM. The sequence is not accidental. Each chapter built the one that followed.
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Chapter One 2008 to 2018 The FoundationA decade building the analytical and strategic foundation that makes everything else possible. Institutional research, data analytics, and accreditation work at community colleges. Faculty at a liberal arts college. Executive-level strategic planning and research leadership, advising presidents and boards directly. This is where Maya learned how institutions actually work: how decisions get made, how data gets ignored, how strategy gets built by committee into something nobody believes in, and what it takes to change that from the inside. Manager of Research and Executive Director of Research and Planning, Oakton Community College Director of Institutional Research, Mount Mary University Assistant Professor, Rhodes College |
Chapter Two 2018 to 2022 The PivotThe chapter where the discipline took shape. As Director of Growth Strategies at UW-Madison, Maya built the growth strategy infrastructure from scratch, designed the online undergraduate degree portfolio, and led the turnaround that became the methodology. Then the other side: VP and General Manager at one of the largest OPMs in the sector, managing multi-million-dollar partnerships with major universities. This is where Maya learned exactly how the damage happens, and what it would have taken to prevent it. Director of Growth Strategies, UW-Madison VP and General Manager, 2U/edX Founder, Leverage Education consultancy |
Chapter Three 2022 to Present The PracticeBack inside the institution in an elevated role, leading the online undergraduate degree portfolio as Associate Dean and then Internal Education Consultant at UW-Madison, while building The Education Strategist in parallel as a full consulting and thought leadership practice. The Education Strategist is the platform for everything the three chapters built: the operator who has held every seat, now available to institutions that need the work installed, not just planned. Associate Dean, UW-Madison Internal Education Consultant, UW-Madison Founder and Principal, The Education Strategist |
What we call strategy in education was not designed to carry this much weight. Maya Evans, PhD |
The Origin The moment that built the discipline.I can still feel my hands quivering. I was sitting across from the provost, a nationally respected economist who had once urged the chancellor not to pursue the very initiative I had been hired to evaluate. An entire portfolio of degree programs was on the table, bleeding millions each year. Everyone wanted answers. Nobody agreed on what those answers should be. I knew the numbers cold: enrollment trends, revenue projections, competitor benchmarks, market intelligence. On paper, I had all the evidence I needed. But here is what gnawed at me. How could I call an initiative good or bad if we had no strategy to measure it against? Every memo, every meeting, was just another angle in a never-ending debate. Brilliant people, talking past each other. That realization was my spark. I was not just analyzing programs. I was staring at the void where strategy should be. Higher education leaders had been trained within a world of stability, not volatility. The playbooks were designed for yesterday's challenges. So I dove into corporate strategy. Nights and weekends, I tore apart case studies from Fortune 500 companies, testing how their frameworks could and could not apply to institutions just as large, but governed by mission and shared governance. The frameworks existed. Nobody had translated them for education. That is what I set out to build. That is how The Education Strategist was born: a conviction that education leaders deserve the same level of strategic rigor as any global corporation, tailored to the complexity and future of higher education. |
About Maya Evans
Every institution has a strategic plan. Fewer have strategy. I've spent twenty years closing that gap.
Inside the institution, inside the consulting practice, inside the OPM. The Education Strategist is built from all three.
20+
Years in Higher Education
$3M+
In Grant Funding Secured
$125M+
In Philanthropy Catalyzed
Thought Leadership
The work extends beyond the engagement.
The podcast, the newsletter, and the writing are where Maya thinks out loud about the structural changes reshaping higher education. Operator-to-operator, for leaders who are navigating these decisions in real time.
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The Podcast Beyond the Ivory TowerAn operator-to-operator inquiry into the structural changes reshaping higher education. Each episode examines the decisions, frameworks, and failure modes that define how institutions grow, stall, and recover. For senior leaders who need to think clearly about what comes next. |
The Newsletter Look Up & Look OutA weekly read for presidents, provosts, and CFOs navigating the hardest decisions in higher education. Strategy frameworks, market intelligence, and operator-grade analysis for leaders who cannot afford to be wrong. Subscribe →The Writing InsightsEssays, frameworks, and analysis on growth strategy, enrollment models, and the structural forces reshaping higher education. Written for leaders who want to think more clearly about what their institutions are actually navigating. Read the Insights → |
What Comes Next
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