Cynthia (Cindi) A. Pierce

Term: June 2012 – June 2018
NOLS Courses: 2011 Explorers Utah River Trip

Cindi is a 1980 graduate of Valparaiso University, majoring in accounting and business. She is currently the Partner-in-charge of Crowe Horwath LLP’s National Not-for-Profit and Higher Education Practice.

A certified public accountant, she started with Crowe as an intern and currently has over 30 years of audit, tax, and consulting experience in the public sector industry. She is based out of Crowe’s Chicago office.

Cindi was the first woman elected to Partner at Crowe. Her leadership positions with the firm include two terms on the firm’s Executive Committee, Chair of the Crowe Foundation, and Past Chair of the Crowe Audit Committee, in addition to many firm-wide management roles in recruiting, career coaching, and strategic planning.

Cindi was recently appointed as a member of the Financial Accounting Standards Board inaugural Not-for-Profit Advisory Committee. She has served on a number of not-for-profit boards, including her current position on the Lincoln Park Zoo Planned Giving Advisory Council and Treasurer of Taltree Arboretum & Gardens.

Cindi enjoys skiing, cycling, and hot yoga. She and her husband, Doug, have two children: Catherine, 25, and Andrew, 21. As a family they have traveled abroad extensively on vacations and school holidays to enrich their lives through the enhanced understanding of other cultures around the world. One of their best memories of a family vacation was a rafting trip down the Colorado River when their children were quite young. Their son Andrew is a NOLS alum from summer courses as well as a semester in Patagonia. Doug and Andrew enjoyed the Gannett Peak alumni trip, and Cindi and Doug joined NOLS trustees on a Lodore Canyon River rafting trip last summer. Cindi is excited about the opportunity to bring her professional experience to the board, and looks forward to opportunities to visit various NOLS sites.