Cindy Kushner founded Women Executive Leadership, Inc. (WEL) in 1999. Cindy’s unwavering passion for empowering women for executive and board leadership is in her DNA, and the WEL community is about raising the visibility of the tremendous, qualified female talent pool. WEL, and through its strategic relationships and alliances with other thought-leaders such as Athena Alliance, Leaderboard, and Florida Women on Boards, advocates, educates, and connects women leaders. Effective October 1, 2024, as part of succession planning, Cindy is serving as Board President while preparing the President Elect for leadership in 2026.
Success comes from getting the right people on boards and in executive positions. That means ensuring more women are included in the selection process so we have the opportunity to be the best candidate.
Although corporate board service was not an option during her time as a Partner in accounting, Cindy has served on numerous boards and committees of not-for-profit organizations, such as WEL, the Financial Executive Institute (FEI) South Florida; Health Financial Management Association (HFMA) Florida; National Board of InterOrganization Network (ION); Advisory Board of National Association of Corporate Directors (NACD) Florida, the United Way of Broward County’s Governance Committee; Florida Venture Forum; and Diabetes Research Institute Foundation. She is an active member of the AICPA, FICPA, Athena Alliance, and NACD.
Despite mandatory retirement age, Cindy continues to assist companies with M&A, buy-side and sell-side transactions, restructurings, tax consulting, and planning, leveraging her deep understanding of business strategies, industry trends, and risk/cost/benefit considerations.
Cindy completed her board of director certification and plans to pursue publicly held and private company board service after a year of international travel, aiming to provide shareholder and investor value.
Throughout her four-decade career in public accounting, Cindy held senior leadership roles such as Office Managing Partner, National Healthcare Tax Leader, and Client Services Partner, advising large global clients in the public, private, and private equity sectors. She has extensive experience in mergers and acquisitions, tax structuring for global and multi-state companies, debt restructuring, recapitalization, and tax-efficient supply chain planning. Her industry expertise includes healthcare, private equity, family offices, and staffing/services industries.
Cindy has received several honors and awards, including the Women Executive Leadership Trail-blazing Award in 2019, Living Legend Recognition by Florida Trend in 2022, Florida Trend’s Top 500 Most Influential Business Leaders from 2018 to 2022, Women Extraordinaire South Florida’s Top Leaders in 2011, Fort Lauderdale Chamber of Commerce – Women’s Circle of Excellence Honoree in 2011, South Florida Business Key Partner’s Award – Honoree Accounting in 2011, Women Executive Leadership Trail-blazing Award in 2011, Chairman’s Award for Excellence in Volunteerism KPMG in 2007, and Rosemarie Meschi Award Finalist Ernst & Young in 2001.
