Pictured: Mike Alden & former SEC Commissioner Mike Slive on Faurot Field. Columbia, Missouri.

Meet the MRJ Advisors Team

MRJ Advisors, LLC is an admired and productive consulting firm focusing on departmental analysis, financial modeling, benchmarking, organizational development, search support, leadership development, strategic planning, and revenue generation planning. With more than 75 years of industry-specific experience, Mike Alden and the team at MRJ leverage their expertise to provide exceptional support and tailor client-specific recommendations.

To ensure direct, ongoing, and frequent interaction with our clients’ leadership teams and decision-makers, MRJ commits to one project at a time. We are known for our engagement, inclusiveness, professionalism, work ethic, and dedicated focus on serving our partners’ needs. Our projects typically include direct needs assessments and stakeholder interviews, building relationships with stakeholder groups and campus divisions, and providing ongoing updates to an average of 60-plus constituents. Our attention to detail, sound counsel, and commitment to follow-up communication are viewed as a gold standard in higher education consulting.

Mike Alden – Founder

mike@mrjadvisorsllc.com

Mike is a nationally recognized leader in higher education and college athletics. In August 1998, Mike began his tenure as the Director of Athletics for the University of Missouri in Columbia, Missouri, the flagship institution of the University of Missouri System. 

For the next 17 years, Mike and his “team” developed an athletic program and culture that resulted in unprecedented academic, social, and competitive success for Mizzou and its students-athletes. Under Mike’s leadership, Mizzou Athletics’ budget grew from $13.7 million to over $90.2 million. Notably, in July 2012, Mike’s strategic vision for Mizzou Athletics led to the University of Missouri’s formal transition from the Big 12 Conference to the Southeastern Conference (SEC). Prior to his time at Mizzou, Mike served as the Director of Athletics at Texas State University, a member of the Southland Conference, from 1996-1998.

Mike also served as the Chair of the NCAA Leadership Council, former President of the Division 1A Athletic Directors Association, former President of the National Association of College Directors of Athletics (NACDA) and is a 15-year member of the faculty of the College Athletics Leadership Institute. Notable among his numerous national, industry, and local honors, Mike was inducted into the Missouri Athletic Hall of Fame and the NACDA Hall of Fame. In his role as an Associate Teaching Professor at the University of Missouri, Mike established the Southeast Asia Initiative (SEA) and the Service-Learning Center in Vietnam. Mike has mentored a number of professionals in the industry, including 13 nationally recognized sitting athletic directors, each beginning their careers as members of Mike’s leadership team.

As Founder and Principal of MRJ, Mike’s focus is overall project management, leadership, and constituent communication, process and timeline development and integration, revenue generation analysis, communication, and brand strategy.

Tim Hickman – Associate

tim@mrjadvisorsllc.com

Tim’s demonstrated leadership in college athletics and higher education spans more than 30 years. Most recently, Tim served as the Deputy Athletics Director and Chief Financial Officer for the University of Missouri Department of Intercollegiate Athletics, the post from which he will retire from in January 2022. A proven leader in operations, finances, facilities, and business modeling, Tim is knowledgeable, strategic, and well-networked in college athletics. For MRJ, Tim’s work focuses on fiscal analysis, facilities planning, development, construction management, and benchmarking studies for program alignment and development.

Sandy Matthew – Senior Executive Assistant

sandy@mrjadvisorsllc.com

Sandy has served in leadership positions at BJC Healthcare/Boone Hospital and Mizzou Athletics. Her work for MRJ focuses primarily on project coordination, timeline management, contract agreement oversight, scheduling, and regular/ongoing communication with timelines and process.

Leigh Neier, PhD – Associate

leigh@mrjadvisorsllc.com

Leigh is a Teaching Professor of Educational Psychology at the College of Education and Human Development. A recipient of the William T. Kemper Fellowship for Teaching Excellence (the highest faculty honor at the University of Missouri), Leigh has chaired multiple campus committees that focus intercollegiate athletics, faculty engagement, and student and academic affairs. For MRJ, Leigh’s work focuses on academic program evaluations, analysis of NCAA requirements and integration within university academic standards, and the student-athlete experience.

Mitzi Clayton – Associate

mitzi@mrjadvisorsllc.com

Mitzi has over 25 years of leadership experience in intercollegiate athletics and higher education. A former Division I student-athlete, she is forever mindful of the student-athlete experience. While an Associate Athletics Director, she oversaw day-to-day compliance operations, camps and clinics and various sport programs before assuming a campus leadership position in Enrollment Management. Her expertise lies in synergizing efforts between athletics and enrollment management, transfer initiatives, community engagement, Title IX initiatives, NCAA compliance and athletics certification and strategic utilization of resources to drive enrollment.