Think Creative - Issue 2

Creative Life a mission-driven community 26 | Think Creative | Issue 2 Sharon Cooley, who was named Senior Vice President in November, sees the appointment as a recognition of the importance of business development to the company. On any given day, Sharon Cooley has her eye on upwards of 30 opportunities to transform lives and communities around the world. She weighs cost-effective solutions to early grade reading challenges in one country one hour, and the next is hearing fromher colleagues on scalable solutions to bring viable employ- ment to youth in fragile states. As Senior Vice President of Business Develop- ment at Creative, delivering high-quality and transformative programdesigns to address these challenges is all in a day’s work. It is a career she could not have imagined as a child in the high desert of California, flipping through the pages of National Geographic wondering what it would be like to travel to and work in far-off places. Her curiosity led her to pursue a bachelor’s degree in Russian and study abroad inHunga- ry. After earning amaster’s degree in political sociology, Cooley returned toHungary for a pre-dissertation fellowship to launch what she thought would be a career in academia studying the urban sociology of cities around the world. But a chance encounter with a program funded by the U.S. Agency for International Develop- ment steered her toward the field she today calls her vocation. Cooley was hooked by the notion that she could apply her knowledge to help solve complex social challenges overseas. Soon after, she began work on a USAID project inHungary and then Albania. Her career in international develop- ment took off. In 2011, she joined Creative as Director of Pro- posal Development. “I think that it just feels like I am in the right place. I can be so proud of being a part of this organization and feel proud to talk about my work to my daughter, and that is the measure of everything,” says Cooley, who was appoint- ed as Senior Vice President in November 2017 after a successful track record growing the company’s business. Now leading a teamof 17 dedicated business development professionals, Cooley says she has concentrated on systems and strategy to stream- line the business development process while still allowing for programdesigners to think creatively about the best solutions for clients and host country counterparts alike. “We have a lot of bids we’remanaging at any given time with different stories of their own, different tempos and different challenges,” she says. “It has to be a somewhat standardized pro- cess while ensuring that people feel empowered to use their best judgement.” To be sure her staff are allocating resources smartly and can deliver to clients the best evidence-based and scalable programdesign possible, Cooley has made data central to the Division’s work. “I really love the strategy part,” she says. “I love thinking through data-driven analysis for deci- sionmaking on bids. If I was to feel proud of an accomplishment, it would be doing that for our business development.” Within programdesign, she has alsomade data a focus with an eye toward sustainability. She says it’s something the greater international development field has takenmore seriously in recent years. “What would it take to ensure that we don’t have to keep doing the same thing in these countries? How can we use learning agendas andmetrics to determine successful exit strategies? How can Creative contribute to the body of knowledge that shapes these discussions?” she says. In a fast-paced environment where new busi- ness means the chance to change potentially millions of lives, Cooley says her talented team, in partnership with technical experts inWash- ington and the field, always give it their all. “I am so impressed with the intellect and fervor with which my colleagues, staff and people in the field go about their work,” she says. International development for us indeed is a vocation—representing great worth and life-long dedication.” n Photo by Skip Brown Sharon Cooley Leading business that catalyzes change Staff Spotlight