ABOUT BaTar
Complex decisions require more than information. They require clarity about what matters.
BaTar strengthens how organizations examine complex matters, interpret relevant evidence, consider competing priorities and implications, and establish a clearer basis for informed decision making.
Built for decisions that are rarely simple.
Organizations make important decisions within complex environments. Evidence, priorities, resources, stakeholder perspectives, governance responsibilities, and leadership judgment may each influence the direction an organization takes.
At times, a more focused examination can bring additional considerations into view. BaTar brings relevant evidence and organizational considerations into a structured analysis, helping leaders more clearly understand the matter, available alternatives, and their potential implications.
Our mission is to bring greater structure and clarity to complex organizational considerations so that leaders have a stronger analytical foundation for informed judgment and action.
Informed by context. Structured for decision making.
Evidence-led. Not outcome-directed.
BaTar approaches each engagement within the context of the organization, its priorities, operating environment, and the matter under consideration. Relevant evidence, organizational knowledge, strategic objectives, governance considerations, and available resources provide the foundation for the analysis.
Evidence and available options may carry different implications depending on organizational context. BaTar considers these distinctions in examining the matter, evaluating relevant alternatives, and identifying the considerations that warrant leadership attention.
How can organizations create stronger structures for making important decisions when the evidence is complex, priorities compete, and no single measure provides the answer?
Yolanda Brown, J.D.
Founder & Principal
Yolanda Brown, J.D., is the Founder and Principal of BaTar Decision Architecture & Strategy. She brings more than two decades of leadership experience, including extensive executive responsibility across higher education, spanning academic strategy, workforce education, institutional operations, student success, enrollment, accreditation, resource management, and organizational planning.
Yolanda's work has centered on decisions that extend across traditional organizational boundaries and require the integration of academic, operational, financial, regulatory, workforce, and strategic considerations. She has led complex academic portfolios, managed multimillion-dollar initiatives, guided institutional planning and improvement, evaluated program performance and sustainability, and provided leadership in environments where institutional priorities must be considered alongside capacity, resources, governance, compliance, and student outcomes.
Her Juris Doctor and executive leadership experience contribute to an approach grounded in disciplined analysis, careful consideration of evidence, and an understanding of how policy, governance, organizational context, and implementation influence institutional decisions. This combination of strategic and operational experience provides the foundation for BaTar's work in decision architecture.
Yolanda leads the development of BaTar's decision architecture practice, including Strategic Academic Portfolio Management (SAPM), an evidence-informed framework for academic portfolio decision making, as well as emerging applications designed to support complex organizational decisions beyond academic portfolio management. The work reflects a consistent focus on bringing relevant considerations into a structured analysis so that leaders can more clearly evaluate available options and their implications.
Strategic Decision Architecture
BaTar's Strategic Decision Architecture provides a disciplined analytical approach to complex organizational decisions. We examine evidence in relation to organizational conditions, strategic priorities, competing considerations, and potential consequences to determine what is most significant to the matter under review.
The analysis is designed to move beyond the presentation of information to develop informed strategic direction, clarify viable alternatives, and identify the implications that warrant leadership consideration. The result is a stronger analytical foundation from which leaders can exercise judgment and determine an appropriate course of action.
One architecture. Multiple applications.
BaTar's decision architecture is designed for complex organizational matters in which evidence, priorities, resources, responsibilities, and potential consequences must be considered together.
Strategic Academic Portfolio Management (SAPM) is the first developed application of this architecture. Created for higher education, SAPM applies these principles to academic portfolio decisions while preserving the broader architecture's applicability to other complex organizational matters.
Principles That Guide
Our Work
Evidence-Informed
Relevant evidence provides the foundation for rigorous analysis, while organizational context, professional judgment, and the nature of the decision inform how that evidence is understood and applied.
Analytical Rigor
Complex matters require more than the presentation of information. BaTar examines relationships, competing considerations, alternatives, and implications to develop well-founded strategic direction.
Strategic Perspective
BaTar brings an independent strategic perspective to complex organizational matters, examining relevant conditions, alternatives, and implications to provide leaders with well-founded direction for informed decision making.
