Cheryl Slover-Linett helps guide the direction and growth of her namesake firm, jointly overseeing strategic and financial planning with other members of the leadership team and providing counsel and context to the staff. She founded Slover Linett in 1997 and inaugurated its dual research practices in higher education (beginning that year with the University of Chicago) and arts & culture (beginning in 1999 with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra). In the role of president, she focused on the higher education practice and engineered its acquisition in 2013 by Huron Consulting. Cheryl transitioned to her present role in 2016.

Cheryl’s marketing and strategy background—she earned an MBA from UCLA’s Anderson School and held corporate brand-management and loyalty marketing positions at United Airlines before founding Slover Linett—gave the firm deep roots in market research and strategy consulting, a combination which proved valuable to a wide range of cultural nonprofits and educational institutions. Her university clients included Harvard, Stanford, Columbia, Johns Hopkins, and the University of California, Berkeley. Cheryl’s informal work with an Anishnaabe community in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula led her to develop Lead Feather, a nonprofit devoted to helping people have deep experiences in nature for personal growth and collective healing. Cheryl was born on the Navajo Nation and is honored to carry an Ojibwa spirit-name, Nis Ishkoday-qwe (Two Fire Woman), given to her by Mukwa Oday (Bear Heart, Ojibwa). She earned her undergraduate degree in economics from Yale University, where she met her partner, Peter Linett. She loves hiking on the mountain trails near Santa Fe, where they live.