CINDY ADAMS
President and Chief
Executive Officer
As president and CEO of Aloha United Way (AUW), Cindy Adams has dedicated herself to developing and advancing collaborative solutions to address the community’s most deeply entrenched and persistent social challenges.
Cindy’s 30 years of experience includes business—start-up and Fortune 500 companies—and nonprofit leadership. Previously, Cindy served as the vice president of sales and marketing for CBI Polymers in Texas, where she oversaw sales and marketing to ensure financial budgets and gains were met. During this time, she played an imperative role in the company’s relocation from Honolulu to Texas.
From 2009 to 2011, she was the founding executive director of the Hawaii Meth Project, a large-scale prevention campaign and community outreach program that aimed to reduce methamphetamine use among teens. In addition to being widely embraced by local private and public schools, the Meth Project gained White House recognition as one of the most influential drug programs in the nation. Prior to the Hawaii Meth Project, Cindy held executive leadership roles in marketing and operations at de Reus Architects, Call Sciences, MediaGate and various other companies.
Most recently at AUW, she has focused on disrupting the traditional nonprofit culture, evolving the organization’s strategic direction and operations and raising expectations of engagement in the community. Under Cindy’s leadership, AUW has become an innovative partner, developing deeper relationships cross-sector, strengthening its discipline of operational efficiency, and elevating the goal of collective impact to facilitate significant and lasting social change.
She is a graduate of the University of Hawaii at Hilo and holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration with a concentration on marketing. In her free time, Cindy enjoys spending time with her family, including her two grandchildren.
