Cindy Cheatham

Senior Consultant

Ms. Cheatham provides a wide range of leadership and strategic coaching and consulting to entrepreneurial and nonprofit leaders and volunteers. Focus areas include leadership coaching, strategic and business planning, board development, collaboration and organizational development. She has also developed and facilitated award-winning leadership and coaching programs for entrepreneurs and non-profit leaders. Ms. Cheatham is a frequent speaker and program moderator as an expert on topics including leadership, governance, planning, and social enterprise. Ms. Cheatham is trained in peer-based coaching and is a seasoned facilitator.

Ms. Cheatham’s experience includes serving as VP of Consulting at the Georgia Center for Nonprofits and management consulting with Bain & Company where her work included strategic consulting for dozens of companies. Ms. Cheatham was Venture Catalyst and Director of Business Development at the Advanced Technology Development Center, a nationally recognized technology incubator affiliated with Georgia Tech where she coached entrepreneurial leaders on all aspects of their business and leadership and connected them to investors and value-add resources.

Ms. Cheatham is a leader in the community through service as an Elder at North Avenue Presbyterian Church including serving as a member of the Leadership committee where she provided support and coaching to elders and deacons. She serves on the boards of Leap Year and Atlanta Youth Tennis Educational Foundation (AYTEF).

Career Highlights

  • Coached entrepreneurs and C-levels on their business plans, fundraising strategy, sales strategy and leadership at Georgia Tech’s Advanced Technology Development Center
  • Developed and launched peer-based CEO leadership development program and served as faculty; also developed and delivered a wide variety of keynote speeches, training & workshop content for board members and nonprofit leaders.
  • Led all aspects of $500K+ consulting group that served more than 100 clients annually, directly serving as Senior consultant delivering high impact consulting work while managing income generating nonprofit consulting practice.
  • Strategic planning and restructuring for Community Foundation for Greater Atlanta grantees including co-facilitating the merger of two complementary refugee organizations to form New American Pathways.
  • Serving as strategy and organizational development coach with the Bridgespan Leading for Impact program.

Areas of Specialization

  • Strategic and business planning
  • Executive Director/Nonprofit CEO coaching
  • Nonprofit board development/governance
  • Collaborations and partnerships
  • Organizational assessment
  • Facilitation and change management – Staff, Board, and Team

Unique Attributes

  • 2014 APPLES (service learning) Outstanding Alumni Award – University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
  • 2010 graduate of Leadership Atlanta and 2017 Education Day Co-Chair
  • Honors graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and she received an MBA with distinction from Harvard Business School.
  • Trained by the Edward Lowe Foundation in the Peer-based coaching model for entrepreneurs; used this model for developing multiple programs for founders and leaders over two decades
  • Served as part of coaching team with Bridgspan’s Leading for Impact which involved facilitating management teams through development also through moving a strategic project forward as a team. Program covered topics of strategy, program alignment and decision-making, developing leaders and performance management, leading and managing change and team effectiveness.

  • Hobbies

    Tennis, travel, hiking and going to as many state and national parks as I can

  • Food

    Thai food, Asian food, trying new recipes and of course ice cream

  • Band

    James Taylor, I am a Carolina (UNC) girl

  • Movie

    The Sound of Music although my family gets annoyed when I make them watch it most every year

  • Super Power

    Carrying a lot of balls at the same time on and off the court

  • TV Show

    Schitts Creek series

  • Book

    Pride & Prejudice (Jane Austin)

  • Quote

    “Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss, you'll land among the stars.”

Consultant Insights

  • My ideal client is someone [an organization] that:

    is motivated to grow as a leader and to grow the impact of their organization.

  • The highlight of my career so far has been:

    Helping business and social entrepreneurs to pursue their dreams and to create a strong roadmap to make them happen.

  • My superpower as a coach is:

    Quick to understand the situation and the person.

  • My philosophy on life is:

    Live life courageously to fully develop and use your God given talents to make a positive impact personally and professionally.

  • I hope my legacy is one of:

    Making an impact in the lives of my friends, family, clients, colleagues and community through my care for others and through my actions.

Up Next Cherry Collier, Ph.D., MCC