Strategic Advisory · Higher Education

Helping senior leaders see clearly — and move forward with confidence

I work with senior leaders navigating complex institutional change. My focus is structural clarity, honest diagnosis, and steady counsel — particularly as institutions face AI disruption, resource pressure, and the widening gap between what they know they need to do and their capacity to do it.

The Work

What leaders bring to me

Senior leaders are navigating simultaneous, overlapping pressures. I help you understand what's actually happening inside your institution — and what to do about it.

  1. Navigate organizational restructuring

    Thought partnership for leaders facing structural decisions — clarifying what needs to change, why, and how to build a plan that will actually hold when it meets institutional reality.

  2. Confidential strategic counsel

    A trusted outside perspective for senior leaders working through high-stakes decisions where internal advisors can't be fully objective — and where the thinking needs to happen before the plan can.

  3. Lead targeted strategic initiatives

    For leaders who don't have the bandwidth to execute alongside everything else. I step in with the experience to lead high-stakes projects — enrollment strategy, planning processes, organizational assessments — from start to finish.

  4. Support for senior leaders personally

    Trusted counsel for individuals in demanding leadership roles — navigating complexity, transition, and what comes next.

Three ways to engage

Ongoing · Retainer
Strategic Advisory

An ongoing advisory relationship for senior leaders. Confidential, substantive, and structured around what you're actually navigating — not a fixed curriculum. I serve as a trusted thought partner, available when decisions matter most.

Monthly or quarterly retainer · Limited availability

Transitional
Interim Leadership

For institutions navigating leadership transitions, I step in and get to work. I'm a generalist in the best sense — I read organizations quickly, identify what matters most, and provide steady senior leadership while you find your footing. No long ramp-up. No narrow specialty. Just experienced, clear-eyed leadership when you need it most.

Defined scope · Typically 60–120 days

Project-Based
Targeted Strategic Projects

Every institution has its own history, politics, and unwritten rules. I'm skilled at walking into complexity, making sense of it quickly, and executing with focus. If you have a high-stakes project that needs experienced outside leadership, I can take it from ambiguous to done.

Defined scope · Typically 60–120 days

Samara Taber
Founder & Principal Consultant

I work with senior leaders navigating complex institutional environments — and I know what that work actually looks like from the inside.

Over thirteen years at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, I held executive roles at the highest levels of the institution: Chief Advancement Officer, Acting Chief Enrollment Officer, and Interim Chief of Staff to the Chancellor. I managed multimillion-dollar budgets, led cross-functional teams through periods of restructuring and austerity, and advised senior leadership on decisions that required both strategic clarity and institutional discretion. I currently serve as Senior Strategic Initiatives Advisor, leading university-wide work on organizational effectiveness and strategic planning.

I founded Northern Insight Consulting to bring that inside perspective to leaders who need a trusted thought partner — someone who understands the political dynamics, resource constraints, and organizational inertia that shape every major decision in higher education.

My approach is direct, analytically rigorous, and grounded in how institutions actually work. I'm a certified mediator (Cornell University) and Lean Six Sigma Green Belt, with a background spanning higher education, philanthropy, and information science.

If you're navigating something complex, I'd welcome a conversation.

Get in Touch

If you're navigating something complex, reach out directly

I work with a small number of clients at a time. There's no intake form or scheduling widget — if you're a senior leader working through something significant, contact me directly and we'll find time to talk.

samara@northerninsightconsulting.org

All conversations are confidential.