Matthew Pickus
Strategic Business Intelligence Leader | Higher Education | Data-Driven Strategy
Advising university executives on data-informed decisions across finance, HR, student success, and public health.
Executive Summary
As more U.S. faculty look abroad, senior professional staff—the higher education professionals behind institutional strategy—are also looking abroad. With deep ties to Canada, I’m actively exploring executive-level roles in Ontario that align with my expertise in data strategy and institutional planning.
Currently, I serve as a Lead Business Intelligence Analyst at the University of Michigan, advising C-level and senior leadership on strategic issues, data-informed decision-making, and institutional policy. I lead cross-functional BI initiatives that support real-time decisions across finance, HR, advancement, student success, and campus public health. I also lecture on data usability and visualization, and train staff and students in business intelligence tools.
I’m passionate about mission-aligned work in higher education, healthcare, and the public sector—organizations where data, strategy, and leadership intersect to make lasting impact.
Strategic Impact Highlights
Presidential
Dashboard Suite
Oversaw development of executive dashboards for the President and Regents at the University of Michigan, tracking over 90 KPIs requested by the President across financial, HR, and academic domains.
Public Health
BI Leadership
Created dashboards and analytic tools for real-time COVID-19, STI, and mental health monitoring across campus. Guided executive decisions in partnership with campus health, HR, and student affairs.
Translating Technology
to Leadership
Known for bridging technical and executive audiences. Frequently act as strategic translator between data teams and cabinet-level leadership.
Campus-wide
BI Training
Provide Tableau training and teach BI tools to staff and students. Regular lecturer on data strategy, dashboard usability, and decision support frameworks.
Special Projects for
Chief Officers
Trusted advisor on special analytics projects for university leadership, including legal, institutional research, advancement and IT security operations.
Institutional Planning & Policy Insight
Partnered with central offices to inform long-term institutional strategy, resource planning, and policy development. Trusted contributor on initiatives tied to budgeting, compliance, campus health, and organizational change.
Dashboard Gallery
Presidential KPI Dashboard
Real-time metrics for C-level leadership across academic and operational areas. Tracks 90+ KPIs requested by the President, spanning the university’s key functions.
Campaign Performance Dashboard
Supports advancement strategy by visualizing campaign progress, donor engagement, and giving trends. Used by VP for Advancement to guide fundraising efforts.
COVID-19 Campus Health Monitor
Pandemic-era tools used by public health and University leadership to guide policy.
Now supports ongoing monitoring of mental health, STIs, and other illnesses.
Student Success Suite
Dashboards for retention, progression, outcomes, and academic equity.
Spans 19 schools and colleges across undergraduate and graduate programs.
Donor Intent Compliance Dashboard
Ensures accountable use of donor funds and highlights potential risks. Used by General Counsel and Advancement leadership to safeguard institutional trust.
About & Background
Current Role:
Lead Business Intelligence Analyst, University of Michigan
- Strategic advisor to C-level leadership
- Team lead for enterprise BI tools and decision support
- Tableau Certified Associate | Internal trainer and lecturer
Key Skills & Certifications
- Tableau Certified Associate, since 2016
- Expert in dashboard design, usability, and data communication
- Skilled SQL programmer
- Trainer and Lecturer on business intelligence tools and strategy
Education
- MBA, Cornell University
- MSPH, University of Michigan
- BS, University of Michigan
Speaking & Engagements:
- Tableau Conference (2x speaker; one session ranked 5th overall and 1st in Higher Ed)
- AIR Forum (Association for Institutional Research)
- HEDW (Higher Education Data Warehousing Forum)
- University guest lecturer on BI, data usability, dashboard best practices
Connected to Canada
I spend four to five months each year living and working remotely from Stratford, Ontario and I currently serve on the American Board of the Stratford Festival.
This isn’t a seasonal visit—it’s a long-standing personal and professional connection, and one I’m committed to deepening. I’m actively pursuing a permanent leadership opportunity in Canada, especially in Ontario, where I can contribute to the country’s educational, public health, and cultural infrastructure.
Testimonials
The role in which Matt served required him to work with a variety of internal and external partners towards shared goals. As a colleague, Matt is collaborative, supportive and easy to work with. Through service on institution-wide committees, he demonstrated a strong ability to work in partnership with others; his commitment to the health of the campus community; an ability to use his specialized knowledge and talents to develop pragmatic solution to complicated issues; and his skill at building relationships to achieve shared goals. Matt continuously sought to understand the audience he was serving and used the knowledge to develop a comprehensive and effective solution that met the needs of all constituents.
Matt can effectively navigate a very large decentralized campus community, utilizing his in-depth knowledge and effective partnerships to strategically address various challenges. Matt's professional experiences create a unique set of qualifications that would benefit any organization.
Sarah Daniels, Ph.D.
Associate Dean of Students
Not only was his work timely with fast turnarounds to complex requests, he brought a unique perspective of truly appreciating both the public health and the technological aspects surrounding the dashboards. He listened to the application needs of our health response team and delivered well devised products with easy to understand visuals to help us guide university policies and disease mitigation practices.
JoLynn Montgomery
Epidemiology & Infection Prevention Senior Manager
I commend Matthew and his ongoing commitment.... [He] worked in an agile fashion and made updates regularly and quickly to help meet the needs of all the constituents. The trust built between all those involved including the lead of the CHRC group was outstanding.
Jim Behm
IT Applications Senior Manager
Matthew Pickus has been our designated point person from ITS to help advance a number of important initiatives connected to the COVID response. The complexity and endlessly changing nature of this work cannot be overstated. University policy on COVID vaccine coverage and testing has evolved over time and has often varied based upon affiliation (employee vs. student), living arrangement (congregate housing or not), primary location of activity (campus vs. hospital), and a range of other considerations.
Matthew has very effectively partnered with our public health response team to help deliver on these IT needs. He is adaptable, confident, trustworthy, diplomatic, empathetic, rational, and optimistic. His professional style has been very effective, easily connecting with others while communicating clearly about feasibility of requests. I very much enjoy working closely with Matthew and I appreciate his many contributions to our response to COVID.
Dr. Robert Ernst, M.D.
Chief Health Officer
Available for strategic consulting engagements and data advisory projects.