Mary Rivet

Atheist, Business adviser, Business mentor, Change agent, Consultant, Foodie, Job-seeker, Parent, World traveler

Mary heads her own consultancy specializing in collaborative approaches to strategic planning and organization change. She partners with business leaders in both the for-profit and not-for-profit sectors to identify the critical next decisions that need to be made to ensure success, and to develop creative approaches to address these opportunities in ways that ensure successful implementation. Drawing on her extensive experience in strategic planning, economic analysis, and organizational development, Mary creates conceptual frameworks that generate insights into the nature of the opportunity; produces compelling presentations that clarify issues and choices; and develops creative collaborative problem-solving approaches that generate the commitment and behaviors needed to drive major organization change.

Social justice, fairness, and equity; exploring the world; growing gracefully; exercise and healthy eating; learning new things.

A Jump Year: An 8th Grade Academy. A disproportionate number of failing schools are predominantly comprised of poor, racial, and ethnic minority students. These segregated schools tend to have fewer financial, human, and material resources than schools in more affluent areas. By the time these students reach high school, the academic challenges they face have been compounded by years of substandard education. In 2005, only 55 percent of all black students graduated from high school on time with a regular diploma, compared to 78 percent of whites. The same is true for Latino students. What isn't working? Our school systems, which under-prepare out students for academic success, and then pass them on from grade to grade. Students reach high school without the educational skills they need to succeed. The fix? An 8th grade academy--an extra year of school after the 8th grade and before the 9th grade that ensures that all kids have the skills they need to succeed in high school.

cooking fabulous meals, Organizational Change, Organizational Development, Strategic Planning, Visual Thinking