Cheryl M. Francis is a purpose-driven strategist, focused on resilience and sustainability.  She is committed to developing the capacity of executive leaders, strengthening organizational infrastructure, and catalyzing communities to achieve social impact, equity, and community transformation.  Her professional career includes over three decades of multifaceted executive-level experience managing multi-million dollar budgets in programs serving adults, children, youth, and families confronting disparities associated with poverty, violence, incarceration, and academic failure in divested, marginalized neighborhoods in Chicago.  Cheryl’s doctoral training at the University of Chicago launched her professional career and prepared her for diverse high-level management roles.

Through her legacy career as an executive consultant-coach-trainer, Ms. Francis focuses on strategic interventions with nonprofit boards and executive teams.  She offers trusted consulting and executive coaching to national/local leaders and organizations. Clients include nonprofit executives and boards of social impact organizations, associations, academic institutions, and government agencies. She has a singular passion for sparking the development of emerging grassroots organizations and serves as a thought partner to BIPOC leaders.   Career highlights include:

• Direct work with over 75 nonprofit boards on governance related to legal requirements from start-up to sustainability, issues related to non-profit governance vs. management, the CEO-Board Chair relationship, board member recruitment, board involvement in fund development, personnel policies, conflicts of interest policy development, and clarification, fiscal accountability, program oversight, executive transition and merger/acquisition. Completed Certificate of Nonprofit Board Education, Board Source.
• Piloted Board Source’s enhanced board governance certification program for its anticipated roll-out in Fall, 2024.
•  Engaged in Strategic Planning assignments with childcare, human services, workforce development, community development, arts, advocacy, and membership-based intermediary organizations.
• Formal coach/certification training by Coaches Training Institute [CTI]; group coach training by CRR Global and team coaching professional development /credentialling from Global Team Coaching Institute [GTCI] and the European Mentoring and Coaching Council. [EMCC].  Over 300 hours of coaching experience with individuals and groups in-person, by telephone, through web meetings, and other technologies since 2009.

Responding to flashpoints relative to racial justice and organizational interest in factoring an equity lens into work with nonprofits, Ms. Francis enhanced her service portfolio to integrate DEIJ into her training, consulting, and coaching offerings. She is a trained facilitator of healing circles aimed at addressing trauma and racial healing.

She is a seasoned nonprofit practitioner and a credentialed executive coach ~ team coach. Recently, she piloted Board Source’s enhanced board governance certification program for its anticipated roll-out in Fall, 2024.

As a volunteer champion, Ms. Francis promotes access and expanded services for high-need, under-resourced populations in workforce development, in the arts, and an youth-serving organizations.  She has enjoyed long-standing board affiliations with the Chicago Jobs Council, OAI, Inc., and the Nagaunee Institute of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. She continues in service to others as  an active member of the Peace & Justice Committee at St. James Church in Bronzeville.