Public institutions and mission-driven organizations are navigating a period defined by sustained disruption. Financial pressure. Workforce transformation. Technological acceleration. Rising human need. Declining public trust. This environment calls for executive leaders who can hold complexity, align systems that were not built to work together, steward resources with discipline, and deliver measurable results that strengthen institutional performance and public confidence.

Dr. Leonie H. Mattison has spent more than two decades in that work, across public systems, higher education institutions, government agencies, and mission-driven organizations that carry the public trust. Most recently, she served as President and CEO of Pacifica Graduate Institute, where she led a comprehensive three-year enterprise turnaround that restored academic excellence, financial viability, and institutional vision, advancing 40% enrollment growth, launching Pacifica’s first fully online WSCUC-accredited graduate programs, and securing 6-year reaccreditation.

Selected Executive Impact 

• Enterprise scope across systems ranging from $25M to $1.7B+, spanning higher education, government, and human services
• $300M+ in public, private, and philanthropic resources secured and influenced to strengthen institutional capacity and long-term sustainability
• Enterprise initiatives serving 6,000+ employees and 4,500 learners across multi-site and cross-sector environments
• 40% enrollment growth advanced through strategic expansion, program alignment, and market-responsive innovation
• $5.1M federal workforce initiative delivering 942 completions, 476 credentials, and 212 job placements
• 300+ cross-sector partnerships built and sustained to advance workforce pathways, student success, and regional economic mobility
• 6-year WSCUC reaccreditation and enterprise governance redesign as President and CEO of Pacifica Graduate Institute

Practice Areas

Dr. Mattison partners with boards, presidents, CEOs, cabinet officials, and executive teams across four areas of practice. Each engagement draws on the areas the institution and its leaders need most.

• Organizational Design and Development: The architecture of how the institution is built, how the work moves through it, and how it grows without losing what makes it whole. Structure, roles, governance, decision rights, operating models, enterprise turnaround, and the alignment between strategy and how the institution actually functions.
• Leadership Development and Executive Advisory: The formation of leaders who can hold complexity, steward relationships, and lead through pressure and public accountability. Executive coaching for presidents and CEOs, cabinet and leadership team development, board and governance preparation, presidential transition support, and the practices that sustain leaders across long tenures.
• Workforce Design and Culture: The people architecture that makes the mission possible. Workforce strategy, talent systems, culture and belonging, succession planning, workforce development, and the systems that help teams do their best work in high-stakes environments.
• Systems Architecture and Enterprise Transformation: The organizational systems that carry the strategy. Enterprise operating models, cross-functional design, technology and AI integration, performance and results-based execution, evaluation systems, and the connective tissue that holds the enterprise together as it scales and transforms.

Every engagement moves through the T.H.R.E.A.D. System™ across whichever practice areas the season calls for.

The T.H.R.E.A.D System™

The T.H.R.E.A.D. System™ is a practice-based framework for grounded leadership that equips organizations and individuals to navigate disruption, stabilize operations, and design wholeness in times of change. Six practices, refined across two decades of institutional leadership and stewardship of more than $300 million in mission-driven work.

Think Deeply. Harvest Wisdom. Release Patterns. Enlist Allies. Adopt Change. Design Wholeness.

The System is how the work moves. It is used by executive leaders, boards, and organizations navigating enterprise transformation, leadership transitions, and the seasons that determine what their institutions become.

Explore the T.H.R.E.A.D. System™

Leadership Focus

• Enterprise leadership in complex, publicly accountable systems
• Higher education presidency, provost, and cabinet-level leadership
• Nonprofit CEO and executive director roles
• Organizational transformation, turnaround, and systems integration
• Public stewardship, governance, and institutional trust
• Workforce strategy, talent systems, and culture alignment
• Strategic planning, performance, and results-based execution
• Cross-sector partnerships and resource mobilization
• Student success, economic mobility, and community impact
• Executive communication, influence, and thought leadership

How We Partner 

The right partnership depends on the season and the scale of what the institution is navigating.

• Executive Conversations– A working session for presidents, CEOs, cabinet officials, and boards holding a decision that matters more than most.
• Diagnostic Engagements- An assessment of the organizational pattern beneath the presenting challenge, with clear recommendations for the leader, the leadership team, and the governing body.
• Advisory Partnerships -An ongoing relationship for institutions that benefit from a trusted, intentional strategic partner across the arc of a season, a strategic initiative, a major transition, or a full enterprise transformation.
• Full-time, Interim, or Fractional Executive Leadership -Executive leadership for presidencies, CEO roles, and enterprise transformations that require experienced hands during a transition, turnaround, or search process.