Cory Sbarbaro

Cory brings extensive management, leadership, and teaching experience – and a pragmatic, sensible approach – to his consulting engagements with nonprofits and social purpose corporations. His areas of expertise include interim leadership, executive transitions, mergers, organizational assessment, capacity building, strategy development, and governance. Since launching Turnpoint in 2003, Cory has served as an interim CEO for nine organizations, provided counsel to more than 100 boards of directors, and guided dozens of organizations through complex organizational transitions.

Cory’s most recent interim engagements include the Pacific Science Center, where he served as the Interim President and Chief Executive Officer for 17 months, and Group Health Foundation, where he served as the inaugural (Acting) President and Chief Executive Officer of the emerging, $1.8 billion 501(c)(4) foundation for more than two years.

In addition to his work as a consultant and interim executive, Cory is committed to developing leaders and managers across the region. Through a partnership of the Nancy Bell Evans Center on Nonprofits & Philanthropy and Cascade Executive Programs at the University of Washington (UW), Cory co-created the Nonprofit Executive Leadership Institute – an intensive, six-day learning experience for senior-level nonprofit professionals in the Pacific Northwest. He served as the Faculty Lead for the program from its inception in 2007 through 2019. Cory also served for 12 years as the Lead Instructor for the Nonprofit Management Certificate Program offered through UW’s Professional & Continuing Education division. In 2009, he was the recipient of a Teaching Excellence Award from the University.

Cory is devoted to expanding the capacity of nonprofit and social purpose entities to better meet the needs, and deepen the existing strengths, of our communities. He served on the Planning Council for Washington Nonprofits, the Advisory Council for the Seattle Good Business Network, and the Consultant Advisory Group for 501 Commons’ Statewide Nonprofit Resource Directory. Cory was a longtime member of the Alliance for Nonprofit Management’s Board Governance and Executive Transitions Affinity Groups. In 2007 he served as a beta-tester for the Alliance’s Ethical Standards in Nonprofit Capacity Building, and in 2014 he was a contributing author to the Alliance’s Guiding Principles for Executive Transitions.

Cory was also a contributing author to the Washington Nonprofit Handbook: How to Form and Maintain a Nonprofit Corporation in Washington State (2018), and the author of Social Venture Partners’ Replication (2002), a case study focused on nonprofit replication and the evolution of the Social Venture Partners international network.

Cory is a graduate of the Evans School of Public Affairs, where he earned an MPA degree with a focus on leadership, organizational development, and financial management. He is also a Leadership Tomorrow alumnus. His past board leadership experience includes service as Board President for Solid Ground, Board Treasurer for 501 Commons, and Board Secretary for New Beginnings.