Mary Rapaport is on a mission to democratize strategic thinking.

She believes it’s not just for the elite few—it belongs to everyone. When people at every level think more strategically, organizations move faster, ideas get stronger, and work becomes a whole lot more rewarding.

Mary is the creator of The Strategic Playground, an immersive development experience that makes strategic thinking feel less like theory—and more like a superpower you can actually use. Her approach blends bold concepts, playful energy, and immediately applicable tools that help leaders and teams think, act, and lead with greater impact.

As a learning strategist, Mary works with well-known companies and brands to design development strategies that build real capability—strategies that actually support growth, not just check a box. Her background in brand strategy and organizational design gives her a sharp eye for how thinking, structure, and people come together to drive results. She’s led marketing and enablement teams, redesigned functions for high-growth companies, and knows how to connect strategy to execution.

She’s also been an active leader and contributor within the Association for Talent Development’s Twin Cities chapter, helping others in the field stay connected to the joy of learning and the power of professional development.

Whether she’s on stage, facilitating a session, or helping a team reimagine what’s possible, Mary brings contagious curiosity, sharp insight, and a deep belief in the untapped potential inside every organization—just waiting for the chance to think bigger.

Because in a world obsessed with tools and tech, Mary believes the real edge still belongs to people—and how well they think

Mary is available for keynote speaking, executive retreats, strategic planning kickoffs, and more presentation opportunities! Please view the Speaker Menu to learn more.

Xcelerate Can Help:

Build Learning Strategies for Growth

For organizations that are rolling out a critical company initiative, retooling their go to market strategies or making major changes that impact their sales teams and the customers they serve, a Learning strategy will help you reinforce critical adoption behaviors, beliefs, attitudes and actions that will drive revenue growth.

Build strategic thinking with The Strategic Playground workshop or 1:1 coaching

Cultivate key executive, leadership and strategic skills through a mentorship that will prepare you to step into a more senior role, or receive personalized coaching support as you roll out a new training program to help you and the org achieve the vision sooner.

Create custom trainings & workshops

Increase revenue with high-impact workshops and immersive learning experiences that will help your staff think more strategically about their accounts, teach non-sales professionals to sell and better motivate the client to take action.

What Clients Are Saying

  • "Mary thinks about the connection between behavior change and business results. Not just training on the widget but also human behavior and how you influence that and change. She can look at the whole ecosystem that surrounds the organization and deliver a plan that works within it and makes it better."

    — Senior L&D Leader

  • "Mary gets the bigger picture of everything she does. She helped us by looking at our training strategy from a broad perspective to make sure we were developing content that really had an impact. Everything we do is about impact and Mary has helped us increase our impact through a collaborative approach that allowed us to retain our voice, while leveling up our approach and delivering content that provided more value for our participants. Her insight is invaluable."

    — Jaime Taets, CEO Keystone International

  • "Mary's real world experience in sales and marketing was so helpful. She’s helping us think strategically about how to leverage education to achieve business goals, and that’s a critical component."

    — Major Home Improvement Manufacturer

  • "Xcelerate's approach to sales training and coaching transformed Inprela. Now we have an entirely new, and more effective approach to presenting and talking about our business and can now focus on organically growing existing clients. Hands down the best money I’ve ever spent at Inprela for an outside resource!"

    — Stephani Simon, President, Inprela

  • "Mary asks hard questions that make people think - often questions other consultants don't ask."

    — Marketing Leader at an international Medical Device Manufacturer

  • "Mary is more than a training person, she is a Performance Consultant. If you’re looking to drive change or increase performance in your organization, partner with her to develop a strategy that improves performance and drives change in your organization."

    — Attribute Needed

  • “Mary’s not just plugging training tactics into a calendar. She approaches learning plans like marketing plans – winning hearts and minds to ultimately influence behavior and drive adoption.”

    — Marketing Leader at an international Medical Device Manufacturer

Ready to Reach Out?