Available - Remote & Utah
Mary Rietz
I turn complex business priorities into stories people understand, experiences they remember and action organizations can measure.
Strategic communications leader connecting business strategy, executive messaging, audience insight, brand, creative direction and AI-enhanced workflows to help organizations communicate with clarity.
Strategic Communications · Executive Communications · Change · Brand · Creative Direction · AI-Enhanced Workflows
Immediate credibility
The business problem
Organizations don’t usually need more content. They need clarity.
Leadership understands where the business needs to go, but employees don’t understand the story. A decision makes sense in the boardroom but feels completely different to the people experiencing it. Teams communicate constantly, yet nothing sounds connected.
The strategy exists. The narrative doesn’t.
That’s the space where I work.
I connect business strategy to the people who need to understand, believe and act on it.
Problems I solve
01
Executive Narrative + C-Suite Communications
When the message matters most, the words matter most. I shape what leaders say and how they say it — so it lands with confidence at every level.
02
Change Communications + Employee Alignment
Change fails when people can’t follow the story. I build the narrative, the sequence, and the manager tools that carry people through it.
03
Message Architecture + Communication Systems
One strategy, one narrative — expressed consistently everywhere. I design the system that keeps every message saying the same thing:
04
Brand + Visual Communication
Strategy only works if people engage with it. My creative background means the message arrives as an experience — not a memo.
05
AI-Enhanced Communications
I use AI — ChatGPT, Claude, and Muse — to accelerate research, exploration, analysis and production. Strategic judgment stays human: AI expands what I can do with my judgment, never replaces it.
06
Measurement + Optimization
Sending isn’t succeeding. I measure what moved — and feed it back into the system so the next round lands harder.
Proof, not portfolio
I’ve spent 17+ years helping organizations turn complicated ideas, business priorities and moments of change into communication people can understand, trust and act on.
When Mary joined Field Operations, there was no delivery strategy at all — and the wrong language for the wrong audience. Corporate updates written for the home office weren’t landing with blue-collar field techs.
5,000+ employees across field operations, warehouse, and management tiers — two fundamentally different audiences: corporate and field.
Communications Manager, Field Operations.
Built a distinct audience persona for the field teams, separated from the home-office corporate audience — then cascaded the same core messaging so it stuck at every level.
Established a working multi-tiered Field Operations communications system: field-wide decks that keep teams aligned and informed, and a rebuilt weekly huddle content system leaders use to drive accountability.
A working system in 60 days — reaching 5,000+ employees with clear, cascading messaging.
Messaging with no strategy or plan. Business investments and initiatives were wasting money and creating a mess.
Hope City’s leadership team — and the office admin who would have to run whatever was built.
Strategic communications lead.
Separated the intake chaos from the planning. Layered 5-year and 10-year marketing and strategy plans onto their actual budget, year over year.
Streamlined the event and design intake process; built the layered plans; created a communications strategy their office admin could seamlessly manage and produce content from.
Up to $15k saved each year in wasted funds — with a strategy the team could actually run.
More strategic work — change communications, brand systems, executive messaging — lives on the Use Cases page.
Audience strategy
Needs
Needs
Needs
Needs
Same strategy. Different communication.
I don’t start with the channel. I start with the audience. What do they know? What do they care about? What are they worried about? What might they misunderstand? Who do they trust? What do they need from leadership? What should they think, feel or do next?
Only then do I determine the message, messenger, channel, timing and experience.
How I think
Strategy isn’t always the thing you see.
Select a stage to see what happens behind the finished deliverable.
We start with the business problem, not the deliverable. What decision has been made, what needs to change — and what happens if the message doesn’t land?
Who has to act, believe, or understand? I map what each audience knows, cares about, worries about, and who they trust — before a single word is written.
What is the single clearest story this organization can tell — and what must we deliberately choose not to say?
Core narrative, message pillars, proof points. The structure that keeps every version of the message saying the same thing, at every level.
How the message becomes an experience: visual direction, presentations, digital touchpoints — designed so the strategy survives contact with real people.
Sequenced delivery through the right messengers, channels, and moments — with managers equipped to carry the message themselves.
Reach, understanding, sentiment, behavior. Did anything actually change? The answer shapes what comes next.
What the feedback tells us, fed back into the system. Communication is never finished — it’s maintained.
I don’t simply know how to make communications. I determine what should be created, who it is for, why it should exist and what it needs to accomplish.
AI + my workflow
I use AI as a strategic and creative accelerator across research, audience modeling, message exploration, content development, design ideation, production and analysis — while keeping human judgment, organizational context and business strategy at the center.
Where every engagement starts.
Where the work moves faster.
Where judgment takes over.
Where it ships.
Where it gets smarter.
My toolkit: ChatGPT, Claude, and Muse — used to organize requests, unify voice, and accelerate drafting. Every final message still passes through human judgment.
AI accelerates the work. Human judgment determines what deserves to exist.
Real results
5,000+
What changedField employees across operations, warehouse, and management tiers now receive clear, cascading messaging through a working multi-tiered system.
My contributionEstablished Vivint’s Field Operations communications system in 60 days.
Why it matteredThe same message lands clearly at every level — corporate and field.
60 days
What changedNo delivery strategy and the wrong language for the wrong audience became a working communications system.
My contributionDesigned the audience personas and the multi-tiered cascade — then stood the system up.
Why it matteredThe organization could communicate clearly while still moving fast.
$15k
What changedWasted marketing spend became layered 5- and 10-year plans tied to Hope City’s actual budget, year over year.
My contributionStreamlined the intake process, built the plans, and created a strategy their office admin could run.
Why it matteredUp to $15k saved each year — with a system the team could sustain.
Testimonials
Mary is one of the most solution oriented people I have ever worked with. If there is ever a process, complication, or challenge standing in the way of what she needs to accomplish she will find 10 ways to succeed.
When Mary joined Vivint she was put into a role that had very little organization around it, little forethought was given to communication across departments at the time and it completely changed when she joined. She worked hard at closing the gaps between teams and created a strong, lasting comms flow that was needed for our organization to succeed.
Mary is always on the frontlines of new software and techniques. When the most recent AI revolution swept across the world she was there ready, finding the best ways to use this new tool to make her workflow and that of our teams more efficient. Mary never shied away for this new technology but met it with a keen curiosity and an openness that allowed her to master it.
In the workplace she is also a joy to have around. She cared for every member of our team and never hesitated to lend a helping hand to someone in need.
Any team would be lucky to have Mary there, ready to roll up her sleeves and complete the next task.
I had the opportunity to work alongside Mary during our time in Field Service, where she served as Communications Manager. While we didn’t work closely day-to-day, I consistently saw the impact she had across the organization.
Mary played a key role in shaping how information was communicated at scale, particularly through the field-wide decks that kept teams aligned and informed.
Beyond her technical skills, what stood out most was her ability to foster a culture of cooperation and creativity. She brought a thoughtful, collaborative approach to her work and consistently looked for ways to make communications more engaging and effective.
She would be a valuable addition to any team looking for someone who can elevate both communication quality and team alignment.
I’ve had the opportunity to partner closely with Mary Rietz this past year, and she has consistently impressed me with both her adaptability and her collaborative style.
Mary stepped into a difficult and fast-moving role with very little orientation, yet quickly learned the complexities of Vivint, Field Ops, and the many operational and cross-functional processes tied to the work. What stood out immediately was her willingness to dive in headfirst, ask thoughtful questions, and build strong partnerships across teams.
She is communicative, flexible, and exceptionally easy to work with, someone who approaches challenges with a positive attitude and a genuine desire to improve outcomes, not just complete tasks. Even in high-pressure situations or evolving priorities, Mary remains thoughtful, solutions-oriented, and focused on collaboration.
One of Mary’s greatest strengths is her ability to create alignment and trust between teams. She embodies what it means to win together, balancing execution with empathy and partnership in a way that strengthens both culture and results.
I’m grateful for the partnership we’ve built and would absolutely recommend Mary to any team looking for a strong collaborator, thoughtful communicator, and resilient leader.
I can’t recommend Mary Rietz highly enough. She’s one of those people you immediately trust to figure things out and actually make them better.
What stands out most about Mary is her ability to see what’s not working, dig into the root of the problem, and come back with a thoughtful, practical solution. Her work on the Deck Builder is a perfect example of that. She recognized that weekly huddles had become overloaded and weren’t helping leaders drive meaningful conversations. Instead of accepting it, she took initiative and helped reshape the entire experience.
Because of Mary’s work, what used to be a content-heavy process is now a much more focused, actionable, and scalable system. The process she helped build makes it easier for leaders to access the right information, tailor their conversations, and actually drive accountability and development with their teams. She facilitated a meaningful shift in how communication and leadership support show up in the field.
Beyond her impact, Mary is an absolute joy to work with. She brings a sense of humor, positivity, and genuine care to everything she does. She’s approachable, supportive, and someone people naturally trust and want to collaborate with.
Mary is a true go-getter. If something isn’t working, she won’t just point it out. Mary comes to you with solutions and she’ll roll up her sleeves and fix it. Any team would be lucky to have her.
I’ve worked with Mary on several projects for my business, and one of the things I appreciate most is that she doesn’t just design something that looks good. She takes the time to understand the business, our customers, and what we’re actually trying to accomplish. Mary has an incredible ability to take ideas that are still pretty rough and turn them into a clear brand and direction. She helped us think through everything from our visual identity and website to how customers experience our business online. She’s creative, but she’s also extremely practical. She’ll tell you when something isn’t working, explain why, and usually already has several ideas for how to make it better. For a small business owner, having someone who can think about design, communication, technology, and the actual business at the same time is incredibly valuable. Mary has become someone I trust when I need to figure out what’s next.
Mary helped us completely rethink how we presented our company online. Our work is fairly straightforward when you’re in the industry, but explaining what we do in a way that makes sense to customers is a completely different challenge. She was able to quickly understand our business and turn it into a website and brand that felt professional without losing the personality of the company. She thought through things we hadn’t considered, including how customers navigate the site, what information they need before contacting us, and how the overall experience builds trust. What impressed me most was how independent she was. I didn’t have to tell her exactly what to do. I could explain the problem or what we wanted to accomplish, and she would come back with ideas and solutions. Mary brings much more to the table than graphic or web design. She understands how businesses communicate and how to use design and technology to help them grow.
Mary has a rare ability to take complicated information and make it clear, compelling, and easy for people to understand. I’ve worked with her on projects where we had a lot of information, competing priorities, and no obvious way to bring everything together. Mary was able to quickly identify what mattered, organize the story, and create communication that felt polished without becoming overly complicated. She also isn’t someone who simply takes an assignment and executes it. She asks good questions, challenges assumptions when needed, and thinks about the audience before deciding what the final product should look like. That combination of strategic thinking and creative execution is difficult to find. Whether she’s working on a presentation, brand, website, or broader communications challenge, Mary makes the end result stronger than the original ask.
I’ve worked with Mary on multiple projects over the years, and she has become one of the first people I call when I have an idea but don’t necessarily know how to execute it. She is constantly learning new tools and finding ways to apply them to real business problems. Whether it’s branding, websites, content, automation, or newer AI tools, Mary has a knack for figuring out what’s actually useful instead of chasing technology just because it’s new. What makes her particularly valuable is that she can move between strategy and execution. She can sit with you and work through the big-picture idea, then turn around and actually build the thing. She’s resourceful, creative, direct, and genuinely invested in seeing the people she works with succeed. Every project we’ve worked on has ended up better because Mary was involved.
Strategy + craft
My creative background isn’t a separate skill set — it’s a strategic advantage. I’ve learned communications from both sides of the work: the strategic decisions that happen before something gets created, and the creative decisions required to make people actually engage with it.
I understand how strategy becomes an actual human experience.
Selected work includes Vivint, Brass Depot, and Hope City — with more strategic work on the Use Cases page.
Career story
Communications in high-stakes environments — including a Top Secret clearance (NAWCAD/Epsilon era). Learning what clarity costs when it’s missing.
Brand systems, graphic design, web and UX — learning how strategy becomes an experience people actually engage with.
Leading communications across teams; closing the gaps between departments with comms flow that lasts.
Communications Manager, Field Operations at Vivint: a multi-tiered cascade reaching 5,000+ employees, C-suite messaging, and change communications at enterprise scale.
ChatGPT, Claude, and Muse woven into the workflow — accelerating research, drafting, and analysis while human judgment decides what deserves to exist.
Start here
That’s usually where I do my best work. Whether you’re navigating change, aligning employees around a strategy, building an executive narrative, evolving a brand or trying to make something complicated finally make sense — let’s start with the problem.