Mary Lee Montague is the strategic advisor of Montague & Associates LLC, an executive career advisory for leaders pursuing their next C-suite or professional Board of Directors position.

For decades as an executive search consultant, Mary Lee helped organizations find the right candidates to fill key leadership roles, including CEO and other C-suite positions. Through years of focused research and practical application, she honed her Montague Method into a proven, how-to approach to prepare senior executives ready for a professional move. Capitalizing on this knowhow, Mary Lee has evolved her advisory service into Montague & Associates 2.0, where she now shares her Secrets from a Search Consultant™ with advancing leaders.

From her extensive executive search experience, Mary Lee brings a deep understanding of the varied challenges, opportunities, and structures of for-profit businesses, nonprofits, and corporate boards of any size and focus. She has advised on the placement of

• executive positions
• organizations transitioning from tactical to strategic leadership
• mergers and acquisitions
• member and volunteer management
• a founder’s retirement
• diversity
• servant leadership
• for-profit executives in nonprofit management.

An eclectic background, global citizenship, and diverse interests also contribute to her understanding of human capital, uniquely positioning Mary Lee to offer real-world, bottom-line insights into what it takes to land a position in the C-suite or on a professional Board of Directors.

Prior to founding Montague & Associates LLC in 2019, she spent more than two decades at global search firms DHR International and Heidrick & Struggles. She previously served as a sales and marketing vice president for Chicago’s PBS public television station, and as a volunteer president leading a membership organization turnaround. She has taught at Northwestern University Kellogg’s Center for Nonprofit Management; was a Chautauqua Institute fundraiser; and serves on the Board of Advisors for Scout Logic, a privately owned talent screening startup founded by a former search candidate. She is also a graduate of Second City Improv.

A Midwesterner raised in Springfield, Illinois, by philanthropic parents, Mary Lee embraced ‘the art of giving back’ from an early age. Over the years, she has served on the boards of numerous community, national, and international nonprofits, and is currently on the national board and executive committee for Blessings in a Backpack, which provides kids in need with backpacks of food for the weekends.

Mary Lee previously held board leadership positions with Girl Scouts at the local and national levels, Young Women’s Leadership Charter School, and the International Women’s Forum (IWF) as Chicago IWF Forum Board Chair and member of the IWF Global Foundation Board of Directors. She is a member of the Union League Club and Economic Club of Chicago.

Mary Lee and her husband, Bruce, recently relocated from Chicago to New Buffalo Township, Michigan, 75 minutes from downtown Chicago, with their pup, Lincoln, and his BFF, Sam the cat. Mary Lee is an avid traveler who finds comfort in knowing where her next adventure on ‘roads less traveled’ will take her. She also appreciates the familiar of wintering in the mountains of San Miguel de Allende, Mexico; collects street art; and is a local foodie. In her spare time, Mary Lee can be found on her e-bike tackling the Michiana dunes, reading historical fiction, or challenging her ‘big bertha’ on the golf course.

Mary Lee is a leader in her craft, honored to combine her purpose and passion to help others succeed.