Matthew Pickus
Bring Executive-Level BI to Your Organization
Strategic Dashboards, data clarity, and user-first design—
tailored to your organization.
Executive Summary
From Metrics to Meaning: BI Consulting for Institutions That Want More
I help organizations turn complex data into clear, actionable insight. As the BI lead at the University of Michigan, I’ve developed executive dashboards and data strategies used by Presidents, Provosts, and C-level leaders to drive decisions across finance, HR, student success, and public health. Now, I offer that expertise to institutions seeking smarter analytics, better reporting, and user-first design.
Although based in the U.S., I am often in Canada and engaged in its civic and cultural life. I’m currently available for remote or hybrid consulting engagements across Canada and the U.S.
Strategic Impact Highlights
BI Strategy & Advisory
Good data is only useful if it answers the right questions. I help institutions define the metrics that matter, structure their data sources, and build reporting strategies that support real decision-making.
Align data reporting with institutional goals
Roadmaps for BI maturity, self-service models, and governance
Cross-functional collaboration between
Tableau Consulting & Development
Whether you need dashboards built or want help improving what you already have, I offer practical, hands-on support. I can deliver complete Tableau solutions—or work alongside your team to help them build better, more maintainable dashboards with a strong focus on usability and real-world functionality.
Custom dashboards for executives, departments, or campuses
KPI frameworks, visual design, interactivity, and automation
Assist with multi-level navigation and accessibility compliance
Training and Team Enablement
Whether you're building internal expertise or helping staff get more from existing tools, I offer hands-on training in Tableau and Data Visualization best practices. Sessions are tailored to your team’s needs—practical, direct, and focused on solving real problems.
Tableau training (intro to advanced)
Custom curriculum for analysts, admins, and exec users
Visualization and storytelling best practices
Who I Work With
My work is best suited for colleges, universities, and public-sector organizations looking to strengthen how they use data to support leadership, planning, and day-to-day operations. Whether you're part of an institutional research office, a central IT team, or a cabinet-level executive group, I bring experience working across departments and roles to build solutions that serve the entire organization.
I’m especially effective in environments where data is complex, siloed, or under-leveraged—and where clarity and usability can make a measurable difference.
Why Work With Me
I lead BI at one of the largest public research universities in the U.S., where my work directly supports the President, Provost, and Regents. The dashboards my team and I have built inform strategic decisions across finance, HR, student success, advancement, and public health—including tools that have received national recognition for clarity, design, and real-world impact.
Beyond the technical skills, I bring a collaborative approach—working closely with leadership, analysts, and frontline staff to ensure solutions actually get used. I’ve trained hundreds of users, advised on institutional data strategy, and spoken nationally on visualization best practices, always with the same goal: to help people use data better.
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 measles, 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
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
University of Michigan
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
University of Michigan
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
University of Michigan
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
University of Michigan
Let's Talk
If you're facing a BI challenge, building a new dashboard, or just looking to make better use of the data you already have, I’d be happy to talk. I take on a limited number of consulting engagements each year and tailor every project to the needs of the institution.
Whether you're ready to start or just exploring options, feel free to reach out.