Ardys Russakis

Biography

Ardys joined Towson University in 1996. During her 20+ years with the Division, she has led numerous initiatives to expand its reach throughout the region and has fostered cross-campus collaborations between the Division and other University units.

As senior strategist for BTU and anchor initiatives, Ardys is responsible for managing, forumulating, communicating and executing investment strategies for BTU—Partnerships at Work for Greater Baltimore. Her work focuses on scaling, sustaining, aligning, and institutionalizing investment projects. Additionally, Ardys leads Towson University's economic inclusion agenda and broadly facilitates TU's anchor mission strategy, including collaborating with internal and external stakeholders to develop mutually beneficial partnerships that support the anchor mission and BTU engagements.

Ardys recently served as executive director of policy and strategic initiatives. She oversaw implementation, execution, and monitoring of the Division's strategic plans, including short and long-range goals, campus integration, and operational policy initiatives. She developed solutions to ensure divisional resource alignment to support the strategic priorities of the University. She also provided business development support and oversight of performance goals and measurements. 

Previously, Ardys served as executive director for the former Applied Research and Technical Services group. She provided leadership and management of a diverse team of professionals—Center for GIS, Cloud Services & IT Consulting, Regional Economic and Studies Institute—working across a wide range of disciplines. Collectively, these teams provide analytical, technical, and research services to the region's federal and state agencies, county and local governments, non-profit organizations, and private sector companies.

Ardys also served as managing director of the Center for GIS (CGIS), where she oversaw project management; maintained the group’s reputation for competence among clients, vendors, partners, and official entities by setting standards for excellence in service and deliverables; and developed and maintained infrastructure to support business processes. Ardys played a major role in strategic planning for business development and fiscal management for CGIS and expanded Towson University’s role as a state and regional resource for GIS services, applications, and training.

Education

Ardys holds a M.S. in organizational development and strategic human resources from The Johns Hopkins University and a B.S. (magna cum laude) in geography and environmental planning from Towson University.

Personal

Ardys’ hobbies include cooking, gardening, and travel.

Fun Fact

What are three websites everyone should have bookmarked? www.saveur.com, www.houzz.com, www.nytimes.com

What are two apps you can’t live without? What is life with no apps?!