Russell Sage College President Christopher Ames announced on August 16, 2023, that Katie Cooney Lesko has been named vice president of enrollment management effective September 1.
Lesko comes to Russell Sage from Maria College, where she has served as the lead enrollment officer for the last two years, growing new enrollment by 35% in one year – resulting in the largest class at Maria College since 2015. She has developed recruitment strategies for new online and graduate programs there, cultivated key business partnerships, and encouraged graduates to return to Maria for additional degrees and those who paused in their education to return.
Prior to Maria College, Lesko served as the assistant vice president for undergraduate admissions at The College of Saint Rose from 2015 to 2021, where she worked closely with financial aid, graduate admissions, and marketing, and recruited two of the largest first-year classes in the college’s history, with new transfer and first-year classes exceeding 800 students.
She has dedicated her career to higher education, a path that began in 1999 as a counselor in undergraduate admissions at Siena College, where she remained until leaving as a senior associate director in 2015.
She is passionate about private colleges that make college affordable and accessible to a diversity of students. She is experienced in building teams, cross-campus collaborations, and efficient systems with a strategic focus to achieve goals. And she brings to Sage powerful relationships with school counselors throughout the Northeast. Russell Sage is excited to welcome her to its leadership team.