RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, N.C. (August 19, 2026) Cisco. Nike. Coca-Cola. Meta. Novartis. For three decades, Cheryl Stokes has advised the boards and C-suites of some of the world’s most recognized companies on leadership and succession. QuantumBloom, a retention and AI readiness infrastructure company focused on STEM talent, today announced that Stokes has joined as the first member of its Advisory Board. This is the first appointment to the board since the company’s founding.

Stokes brings three decades of experience in general management, P&L oversight, CEO succession, leadership development, culture and enterprise growth across Fortune 500 and emerging companies. She is the former CEO of CNEXT, a leadership development and executive networking business serving Fortune-ranked companies that was acquired by SHRM.

“Cheryl has been in countless rooms with the CEOs, boards and executive teams who determine what leadership looks like at the world’s most respected companies,” said Anne Hungate, Founder and CEO of QuantumBloom. “She led CNEXT to a successful acquisition, built Duke Corporate Education’s European business into one of its strongest regions, and advised corporate boards and executive teams on succession and culture at Heidrick & Struggles. As QuantumBloom scales, that depth of board-level judgment and Fortune 500 relationships is what we need in our first advisory board seat.”

Prior to CNEXT, Stokes was a Partner at Heidrick & Struggles, an international executive search and leadership consulting firm, where she advised executives across dozens of industries on large-scale leadership development strategies and culture initiatives. As Practice Lead for Leadership Development, she drove revenue and growth across a strategic portfolio of clients. She was appointed by Heidrick’s Management Committee to the firm’s Global Consultant Promotion Committee and co-led its Professionals of Color Employee Resource Group.

Earlier in her career, Stokes was a Regional Managing Director, for Duke Corporate Education (Duke CE), a leadership development business owned by Duke University. Under her leadership, Duke CE’s European region achieved its strongest growth and profitability in company history. She also served as Director of Organizational Capability at The Coca-Cola Company, where she led global change and learning initiatives for the company and its bottlers across North America, Central America and Europe.

Stokes’s path into leadership development began in engineering. Her early career included product and process engineering roles at Alcoa and General Motors before she went on to earn a Master of Science in Materials Science & Engineering and a Master of Science in Management from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, following a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from Kettering University.

“I started my career as an engineer, at General Motors and then Alcoa, before I ever imagined I’d spend the next three decades helping companies develop their leaders,” said Stokes. “That path is why QuantumBloom’s mission resonates with me. Too many talented technical people leave the field before they ever get the chance to lead it. I’m honored to be the first member of QuantumBloom’s Advisory Board and to help guide and grow a company that is building the infrastructure to change that.”

Stokes currently sits on MIT’s Visiting Committee for the School of Materials Science & Engineering and serves as Vice Chair of the Board of Directors for the Life Enrichment Center and as a Director on the Wake Chapel Church board. She has been recognized as one of the “25 Influential Black Women in Business” by The Network Journal, a “Woman on the Rise” by Paradigm for Parity, and a “Woman of Impact” by the American Heart Association.

Stokes is currently Founder and CEO of Radiant Leadership, LLC and a Co-Founder and the Chief Learning and Talent Officer of The R6 Collective, both leadership and talent consultancies.

“Cheryl’s combination of a technical engineering foundation and decades of HR and leadership expertise is rare,” said Andrea Mohamed, Co-Founder and COO of QuantumBloom. “She understands how STEM professionals think because she started as one, and she understands what it takes to develop them into leaders because she’s built her career doing exactly that. That perspective is invaluable as we scale solutions for STEM employers.”

Stokes’s appointment marks the first seat on QuantumBloom’s Advisory Board, which the company plans to grow as it expands its retention and AI readiness solutions to a broader base of STEM employers.

About QuantumBloom

QuantumBloom is a retention and AI readiness infrastructure company helping employers retain and develop early-career technical talent through evidence-based coach-led cohort programs, manager development, and on-demand career development tools.

Media Contact:
Andrea Mohamed
QuantumBloom
andrea.mohamed@quantumbloom.com
919-247-0783