Mara Lord’s career began as a television producer in Milwaukee before she started a documentary production company and was nominated for an Emmy. Her entrepreneurial mindset then shifted to leading marketing and development for music festivals before launching a company that assisted startups with developing their business and marketing plans.
During this time, she invested in an idea to open a community-based birth and family center to serve communities in need throughout the greater Seattle area. Her years of building and growing small businesses led to her recruitment by the Medical College of Wisconsin where she currently serves as the senior vice president of university engagement and strategic planning.
“My diverse training and entrepreneurial mindset bring a distinctive skillset to the industry of academic medicine,” said Lord. “I bring a cross-cutting view that enables the college to make a greater impact across our four missions of patient care.”
The Medical College of Wisconsin (MCW) is a health sciences university and academic medical center. The college’s mission is to improve health for all and does so through the mission of excellent patient care, educating the healthcare workforce, accelerating biomedical discoveries and engaging with communities across Wisconsin.
Since 2009, Lord’s impact has been evident at MCW. She worked with the CEO to find a solution that would address the looming physician shortage in Wisconsin, launching two regional medical school campuses and led development of a joint biomedical engineering program between MCW and Marquette University. She has led communications, strategy and philanthropy efforts, achieving $340 million raised to accelerate biomedical research and get more healthcare providers into practice in Wisconsin. Lord was also instrumental in increasing social media engagement by 365 percent to enhance brand loyalty.
Leading with curiosity, approaching projects with creativity and connecting with others help to reignite Lord’s passion as a leader. “Curiosity is critical in the industries of healthcare and science, where we seek answers to the unknown,” she said. “I try to ignite curiosity in other team members working in our organization even if they are not seeing patients or in a lab.”
Connecting with others is another fuel for Lord’s passion. “I engage thinking partners to broaden my own capacity to identify opportunities to grow our strengths, expand our reach and elevate our partnerships,” she said. “Many brains are better together and every conversation with a team member, colleague or partner can lead to a new idea.”
For cultivating an entrepreneurial spirit and positively impacting the healthcare industry, Lord has been named a titan.
