MEET THE FOUNDER
Cheryl Sparks, PhD
A dynamic Executive Coach helping leaders to build trust, influence, and decision-making at their next level.
01.My Path to Purpose
Cheryl Sparks, is a coach and advisor who works with senior leaders navigating complexity, change, and high-stakes decisions. A healthcare executive, she brings firsthand experience leading inside complex organizations and combines strategic rigor with a deeply human approach to leadership.
Her work goes beyond traditional executive coaching. Cheryl helps leaders separate signal from noise, challenge assumptions, understand the systems and relationships shaping their organizations, and make clearer decisions when the path forward is not clear.
She is particularly effective with accomplished leaders and serves as a trusted thought partner who will ask the questions others may not ask, challenge their thinking without agenda, and help them understand both the strategic impact of their decisions and how their leadership is landing on others.
Her philosophy is grounded in a simple belief: the strongest leaders are not those who have all the answers. They are those willing to remain curious long enough to identify the right problem, courageous enough to confront what is true, and disciplined enough to lead with purpose and precision.
02.Mission & Vision
MISSION
CL Sparks & Associates empowers others to lead with intention by developing self-understanding, providing practical tools for growth, and equipping them to create authentic change in their lives and lasting impact on those around them.
VISION
CL Sparks & Associates envisions a future where people lead from authenticity rather than obligation, creating lives of greater freedom and fulfillment. When individuals embrace their spark, they empower others to do the same, creating a ripple of meaningful change.
CORE Values
EMPOWERMENT
The goal is not to create dependence on a coach or framework, but to equip people to trust themselves and take ownership of their leadership. CL Sparks & Associates gives individuals the tools and perspective to step into their potential and become a source of light for others.
HOPE
CL Sparks helps individuals recognize that meaningful change is possible. The coaching process supports leaders in moving beyond their current state and toward a more clear and fulfilling future.
AUTHENTICITY
Leadership begins with knowing and embracing who you are. CL Sparks encourages leaders to move beyond expectations and “shoulds” to understand their identity, desires, strengths, and values so they can lead in a way that feels true to themselves.
WISDOM
Tangible growth takes more than inspiration. At CL Sparks & Associates, we believe lasting change comes through a thoughtful combination of learning, reflection, and practical guidance that turns insight into purposeful action.
Client Review
Her coaching and insight helped me successfully navigate a highly matrixed organization.
03.Professional Training & Credentials
CL Sparks & Associates is committed to maintaining the highest standards of professionalism, ethics, and continued growth within the coaching industry. As a member of the International Coaching Federation (ICF), Cheryl upholds the ICF Code of Ethics and brings a thoughtful, client-centered approach to every coaching engagement.
Cheryl is also a credentialed Co-Active Practitioner through the Co-Active Training Institute (CTI), one of the most respected leadership and coach training organizations in the world. This training framework is grounded in the belief that people are naturally creative, resourceful, and whole, supporting transformational growth through awareness, intentional action, and authentic leadership development.
Executive coaching faqs
-
Working with a coach can help you gain greater clarity, identify assumptions that may be shaping your decisions, see organizational and interpersonal dynamics more clearly, evaluate alternatives, and make difficult decisions with greater confidence and intention.
The result is stronger judgment, better self-awareness, clearer leadership, and the ability to move forward with purpose and precision.
-
Traditional consulting frequently provides answers. Traditional coaching frequently helps the client discover their own.
Cheryl’s work intentionally sits between the two:
Executive experience, organizational perspective, strategic thinking, and a deeply human approach to leadership within complex systems. Not simply prescribing solutions.
As a coach, Cheryl will offer perspective, challenge assumptions, ask questions others may not ask, and help you determine the course of action that is strategically sound and consistent with the leader you want to be and the life you want for yourself.
-
Most engagements range from 6-12 months or longer, depending on the needs of the individual or organization.
Meaningful leadership development and strategic work rarely happen in a single conversation. Longer engagements allow the opportunity to work through immediate challenges while also identifying patterns, strengthening judgment, and supporting as circumstances evolve.
-
Cheryl is not simply a coach who understands executives and leaders from the outside. She has carried executive responsibility inside complex organizations and has made decisions with financial, operational, cultural, and human impact. That lived experience is an important part of what differentiates her work. Book a call.
-
Sometimes you need space to think more deeply about yourself as a leader—your patterns, priorities, relationships, impact, and the choices in front of you.
Other times, you want a strategic thought partner who understands organizations, executive dynamics, competing stakeholders, and difficult business decisions.
Often, the greatest value comes from being able to do both.
-
We’ll begin with what matters most to you in that moment—a strategic decision, organizational challenge, difficult relationship, leadership question, transition, or something you are not quite certain of yet.
We may challenge assumptions, examine competing perspectives, identify the real problem beneath the presenting issue, consider potential consequences, or explore how experiences are affecting you, the people and systems around you.
You leave with greater clarity about what you know, what you still need to understand, and how you want to move forward.
CERTIFICATIONS & QUALIFICATIONS
Let’s talk