Megan Cole

About Megan Cole

I am an executive strategy and operations leader who partners with senior leaders to translate vision into execution by building the planning processes, operating cadence, and performance systems that keep complex, cross-functional organizations aligned and moving.In my current role with Teach For America Florida, I serve as a strategic advisor and force multiplier to executive leadership, helping set statewide priorities and ensuring they translate into clear goals, measurable outcomes, and disciplined execution across a multi-region organization. My work includes strategic planning, governance and operating cadence, KPI and dashboard design, special projects without a natural home, and escalation management for high-stakes initiatives.Previously, I supported organizations including the Nashville Public Library Foundation, RePublic Schools, and Teach For America nationally and regionally, focusing on systems design, change management, and executive communications to improve clarity, accountability, and organizational performance, often stepping in where alignment or ownership was missing.Earlier in my career, I worked directly with students and families as a middle school teacher and Teach For America corps member, grounding my leadership approach in equity, empathy, and results.Core Strengths: Strategic planning & execution • Operating cadence & organizational alignment • Cross-functional initiative leadership • Change management • Executive & board communications • Performance dashboards & KPI design • Budget & resource managementTools: Salesforce, Jira, Asana, Airtable, Workfront, Trello, Basecamp, Blackbaud, Cvent, Bizaboo, MailChimp, Meltwater, Cision, Sprout, Hootsuite, Meta Business Suite, Buffer, WordPress, Squarespace, Canva, Adobe Lightroom

Experience

1. Managing Director, Coalition Building & Strategy

   Teach For America

   May 2023 — Present · Jacksonville, FL, US

   Serve as a strategic advisor and force multiplier to the Executive Director, translating statewide vision into execution across a multi-region organization.Act as a strategic advisor and proxy to executive leadership, translating vision into execution-ready priorities across functions and regions.Lead the organization’s first multi-year strategic planning cycle, aligning goals, resources, budgets, staffing, and execution plans and establishing a repeatable planning and review cadence.Designed and implemented a team-wide performance dashboard aligned to the strategic plan, enabling functional teams to track KPIs, surface early warning indicators, and elevate risks to senior leadership.Designed and facilitated data-driven reflection and decision-making cycles using Salesforce and Power BI, improving visibility into organizational performance and accelerating course correction.Lead cross-functional initiatives without a clear functional home, including policy engagement strategy, coalition development, recruitment initiatives, and organizational learning pilots.Serve as the escalation point for high-stakes, time-sensitive initiatives, coordinating cross-functional response, and enabling rapid executive decision-making.Selected from staff nationwide to serve in a national advisory role supporting quality control and continuous improvement across a mission-critical recruitment pipeline.Evaluated interviewer performance, coached peers, and partnered with a centralized national team to strengthen consistency, quality, and scalability of the selection process.

Education

• University of Florida

  Bachelor of Science (BS), Public Relations, Advertising, and Applied Communication

  2007 — 2011