Current Position and Past Experience
Larenda Mielke is a Vice President in the Higher Education division of Kaufman Hall’s Strategic and Financial Planning practice. She has extensive leadership experience in higher education in the areas of strategy, curriculum and program development, accreditation, strategy execution, financial modeling, business development, managerial communication, lifelong learning, and online, executive, continuing, and hybrid education.

Prior to joining Kaufman Hall, Ms. Mielke served as Associate Provost at Southern Methodist University (SMU). In that role, she was responsible for the entrepreneurial formation and branding of online/hybrid education university-wide, including governance, strategy, financial modeling, research, approvals, and project management, while leading a team of 30+. She also led a large Continuing Education division.

Ms. Mielke previously served as Senior Director of Executive Education at the University of Virginia (UVA) Darden School of Business, where she was instrumental in increasing executive education’s impact nationally and internationally. At the Washington University Olin Business School in St. Louis, she served as Associate Dean and Managing Director for the EMBA program in Shanghai, China, bringing that program to a ranking of No. 6 in the world. She has taught in the areas of managerial communication, medical and research writing, English as a Second Language, team communication, and presentation skills—both traditionally and online—for more than 20 years.

Ms. Mielke has consulted with multiple universities around the world, and worked directly with organizations such as Cargill, the World Bank, MAS Holdings (Sri Lanka), Aluminium Bahrain, and NAMIC, among many others. A regular presenter at higher education conferences, Ms. Mielke has spoken in multiple countries, and given interviews and written articles for professional publications in the U.S. and China.

Education, Honors and Achievements
Mielke holds an Executive MBA from Washington University in St Louis’s Olin Business School, an MA in Cross Cultural Education from Wheaton College Graduate School, and a Bachelor of Science in Biology from Indiana State University.

Personal Details and Community Involvement
An avid fan of exercise, Larenda enjoys running, power walking, waterskiing, and long walks around White Rock Lake in Dallas. During the warmer months, she can be found gardening both edible and appealing plant life. She loves cooking for her family and friends whenever she has time. She and her husband are two of those rare people who own several real estate investment companies, and can still call those initiatives fun—at least sometimes!

Connect
You can connect with Larenda Mielke on LinkedIn.