CHERYL BALL
EXPERIENCE HIGHLIGHTS.

I have always felt it is my job to justify my existence professionally. I am responsible for assuring my role is meeting expectations, advancing the organizational mission, and strategically looking forward. In this CEO role, that includes helping all aspects of the organization be and feel successful.

I am passionate about the outdoors and spend many days hiking and backpacking in the Great Smoky Mountain National Park each year. As a local, I have the luxury of seeing the changing seasons, the trails less traveled, and can visit repeatedly and never get tired of the perfect view, in the perfect place, right at sunset. The Great Smoky Mountains National Park is an asset and amenity to our region that is second to none. It deserves our attention daily, to be preserved, to be celebrated, and to be enjoyed by all.

Much of my career has been initiative and program focused. The span is from a small highly technical project, to working with a client on a large-scale product or service roll out. An example from my own marketing agency, Curved Edge Consulting, was with the City of Knoxville.

My team was hired to roll out recycling to 20,000 households (1/3 of the total) in the city. This initiative was a voluntary opportunity for residents to sign up for a recycling cart and collection service. Recycling experts hired by the City indicated it would require a minimum of two years to get that many households enrolled. These experts also told the City to plan on a contamination rate of 20% the first year and 25–30% for the next five years. While working on the project, we determined the need to add elderly services with an integrated plan, and the need to eliminate inequitable services.

Our results: 20,000 households signed up in less than eight months; the contamination rate was 5% the first year and has remained at less than 8% well past the first 10 years of the program. Elderly services were seamlessly executed; and public opinion of the award-winning “Do Your Part, With the Cart” campaign was incredibly positive.

Doing good work is important; however, so is showing impact. One example of using data was while I was leading the Community Schools strategy. I initiated third-party evaluation and analysis of this somewhat complicated initiative. I needed quantitative data to inform numeric scaling of the initiative more broadly throughout Knox County Schools. Additional qualitative data helped us tell the why—the meaningful, story-based impact. I love working with data and have used a similar approach across a variety of roles throughout my career. I know and understand the direct benefit data can have on dollars raised through demonstrated impact.

My time with Community Schools and now with the City of Knoxville has been deeply steeped in equity and inclusion. While with Community Schools, I led a team serving 16 of the most poverty stricken, ethnically diverse, and marginalized neighborhoods in Knoxville. I advocated consistently with Knox County Schools on specific equity issues impacting our students and families. Equity truly requires a combination of policy level commitments coupled with community specific approaches to establish trust. It was certainly challenging to break down these barriers. Yet, it was, and remains, critical to tackle because of the life-long impacts for the entire community.

I have held several positions that encompassed all operational aspects for the entire organization, including LeBlanc Financial Group, Curved Edge Consulting, Fletcher Marketing PR, and in part at Great Schools Partnership/Knox Education Foundation. I was responsible for all aspects of Human Resources, including developing an employee manual, benefits tracking, hiring, evaluations, and enforcement of violations. Additionally, I was responsible for all aspects of accounting, financial management, program management, and daily operations.

There are some specific skills that make a good project manager and they are really not negotiable. The ability to envision a desired outcome and work backwards to plan a successful, detailed, realistic strategy provides room for different, creative approaches. Empowering team members ensures the plan is maximized. Finally, continuous follow through is required to maintain appropriate timelines, which allows for flexibility if the need for last-minute adjustments arises. My experience managing successful projects is extensive.

An often-underrated requirement for all professional positions is excellent communication capacity. My career has been built on the need to communicate to the right people, with the right message, when they are ready and willing to hear it. Communication styles are fascinating, and in this role, it will be critical to meet people where they are to attain maximum buy-in. I have had numerous public speaking positions and enjoy sharing the stories of good work for our community.

Strong budgeting is critical to non-profit management. I learned early in my career the need to deeply understand how budgets function and connect to daily operations and long-term plans. I managed two initiatives for Great Schools Partnership that totaled $4.5 Million, included 40 FTEs, and 18 physical locations (schools). Each site had a budget, several had multiple grants and reporting, and there was a slew of funding sources for the initiative as a whole. I have a strong understanding of the integration of budgets and finance, which is key for a foundation.

Fundraising is essential to the health of a non-profit. My responsibility for fundraising has increased as my positions have elevated throughout my career. I was selected by the CEO of the Girl Scouts to be trained nationally on the Benevon fundraising model. This philosophical method has continued to inform my own approach to private and corporate fundraising, with some modernization, of course. Private donors have needs frequently requiring added layers of attention and complexity. Let’s work together to secure the next generation of donors, and begin making connections now with the generation after that.

At Great Schools Partnership, I secured a combination of public dollars from two local government entities, private funds from prominent philanthropists, and several regional- and national-level grants. Additionally, I have worked on federal grants with success including most recently the Choice Neighborhoods grant in which the City of Knoxville and

Specifically while working with Fletcher Marketing PR, I led our work with several retail entities for both online and physical retail operations. These varied from specialty items such as cell phones and accessories to jewelry, luggage, personal accessories, leather goods, and a line of women’s clothing. The work varied for these clients. I was able to apply experience from earlier in my career with current marketing techniques to demonstrate success.