Aug 27 — 6:00 PM EDT
Aug 28 — 8:00 AM AEST

Strategy Made Simple:

A Conversation With Higher Education Leaders
When the Ground Moves
How institutions adjust mid-year when the ground shifts under a set plan
Getting Everyone to the Strategy Table
Bringing educators into strategy when it competes with everything else
LEARN ALONGSIDE

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About the event

Strategy in higher education rarely fails because the plan was wrong. It fails because the ground moves, because the people who have to deliver it never saw themselves in it, and because nobody has a clear view of what's happening across campus. This year made the first one obvious: plans set months ago got reopened as policy and funding shifted, including a scramble to support international students after last-minute changes to federal requirements. Ryan Retartha and Kristin Mulrooney do the same job at institutions that couldn't be more different. They're going to talk about it honestly with Cascade's Alex Lee.

What we'll cover

When the Ground Moves

Policy shifts and new mandates don't wait for your planning cycle. We'll look at how both institutions handled plans going sideways mid-year, how they decided what to protect and what to let flex, and what has to be in place before disruption hits.

Educators at the Table

For most faculty and staff, strategy is somebody else's job. We'll get into how you move people up the strategy curve without adding burden, and how you make a plan something a researcher or department chair can see themselves in.

What Size Really Changes

A large university coordinating many units and a small one with a fraction of the staff face different versions of the same job. We'll compare what scale genuinely changes, and what turns out to be universal either way.

Our speakers

Dr. Kristin Mulrooney leads strategic planning at Gallaudet University. A SCUP Fellow, she oversees The Gallaudet Promise, the university's 10-year strategic plan, and champions an integrated planning approach that pulls the whole campus community into building and delivering the plan.
Kristin Mulrooney
Strategic Planning & Integration Officer
Gallaudet University
Ryan advises the dean and leads an internal strategic consultancy that acts as the analytical engine for Mendoza's executive leadership. He built the College's OKR framework and its data governance infrastructure, working with faculty and staff leaders to turn institutional research and data into strategy the College can act on. He holds a BA from Notre Dame and an MFA from Yale, came to higher ed by way of theatre production, and was named to Michiana's Forty Under 40 in 2024.
Ryan Retartha
Senior Director of Innovation, Strategy & Insights
University Notre Dame, Mendoza College of Business
Alex is a revenue growth and delivery executive with a proven track record of scaling a FinTech SaaS division from $15M to $100M in revenue, playing a key role in its successful PE acquisition and subsequent post-merger integration. He brings extensive expertise in go-to-market execution, process efficiency, and running high-performing client delivery organizations to maximize retention and scalable growth. He holds an MA in Statistics and a BA in Applied Mathematics from Harvard University.
Alex Lee
Chief Customer Officer
Cascade

Past Events

Explore an extensive collection of webinars and bootcamps designed to help you maximize your strategy knowledge. Whether you're just starting out or looking to deepen your expertise, our resources offer valuable insights to guide you every step of the way. Dive in and start enhancing your strategic skills today!
What is cascade?

The AI-powered strategy execution platform

Cascade helps leadership teams make better strategic decisions by connecting data, context, and AI so they can run the business through strategy and drive performance.
Learn more about Cascade
“If you’re using PowerPoint or pdf documents of your strategy, know that people aren’t interacting with your strategy as meaningfully as they could be. Cascade helped us go from a document to something that people are living and breathing every day. Strategies are intended to be operationalized—that’s why they exist."
Rebecca Wilson
Director of Strategy and Transformation

FAQs

What are Cascade Academy webinars?
Cascade Academy webinars are one of our most popular event series, bringing together senior leaders from the global business community. In these 60-minute sessions, you'll hear from experts on topics like strategy execution, planning, governance, frameworks, and more. The webinars are free and online, giving leaders from around the world a chance to share real stories of what worked, what didn't, and what they learned along the way.
Who should attend?
Anyone in a leadership or decision-making role who wants practical knowledge and tools to build and execute better strategies.
When are the webinars?
We usually run one webinar per month, each with a specific live date. Once you register, you'll get the details and access link in your confirmation email. Can't make it live? We still encourage you to sign up so you get the recording afterwards. You can also browse past sessions anytime in our event library.
Are the webinars recorded?
Yes. All webinars are recorded and shared with everyone who registers.
What is Cascade?
Cascade is the AI-powered platform for Strategy-Led Performance. It helps leadership teams make better decisions by connecting their data, context, and AI in one place, so strategy doesn't live in a slide deck but becomes how the business actually runs. Thousands of organizations use Cascade to build plans, track initiatives, and keep execution on course. Our customers are redefining the world as we know it, from battling the AIDS epidemic and establishing a supply chain for COVID-19 vaccines to building the world's fastest Formula One car.