Cynthia Hardy Young

Founder & CEO

Cynthia Hardy Young’s strong business acumen is the result of managing profit and loss of multi-billion dollar divisions in domestic and international publicly-traded companies and practicing as an attorney in law firm and corporate settings with an emphasis on corporate defense, directors' and officers’ liability and risk management.  

Young is CEO & Founder of Pivot Global Partners, LLC, a global, boutique consulting firm offering high touch and low touch services to mid sized and larger financial services, professional services, health care and technology companies. Under Young’s leadership, Pivot Global lifts and raises companies’ performance, as well as employee engagement and morale, using its unique Design Agility method, which applies Design Thinking and Agility concepts to innovate while improving operations across organizations.

Young is the former Global Head of Agency at AIG where she led a $7.5 billion retail sales distribution channel operating in over 40 countries.  In that role, Young set strategy and revamped the operating model with an emphasis on analytics, human capital and technology.

Young previously served as President of Encompass Insurance, a $2.5 billion division of Allstate Insurance that sells personal lines products countrywide, as well as President, Personal Lines Division, Hanover Insurance, and Vice President of Product Management, Personal Lines, The Hartford.  Young also held other profit and loss management roles at Hartford and Progressive, in addition to claims roles at Progressive. 

As an attorney, Young handled claims made under community bank directors' & officers' liability, bankers' blanket bond, trust errors & omissions and employment practices liability products in Progressive's Professional Liability Group.  She also was a litigation associate at Jones, Day, Reavis & Pogue, one of the largest law firms in the world. 

Young has a keen appreciation for stakeholder interests.  She is adept at building and managing governmental relationships at all levels, building advocacy among corporate and community constituencies, and advancing national, state and local policy issues. 

Professionally, Young is a respected leader, frequent speaker at industry and community events across the country, and is often quoted in trade journals and the media.  Personally, she is an ardent promoter of adult literacy, quality education and women's economic independence initiatives.

Young received her bachelor’s degree in Economics from Xavier University of Louisiana and her J.D. from the University of Notre Dame School of Law.

Honors

Board Members to Watch, Directors & Boards Magazine

Top 100 Executives & Emerging Leaders under 50, Diversity MBA Magazine

100 Women to Watch, Diversity Journal

Affiliations

Board Member, National Women’s History Museum

Board Member, Work At Home Vintage Employees

Chair of Capital Campaign, Boys & Girls Club of Harlem

Former Member, National Advisory Board, Democratic National Committee

Former Board Member, Edith Sanford Breast Cancer Foundation

Former Board Member, Communities in Schools of Chicago

Former Board Member, Institute for Student Achievement

Board Related Education

Foley & Lardner’s National Directors Institute - 2014

Practicing Law Institute’s Corporate Governance Institute – 2015 

Skill Set

Cynthia is well-versed as a speaker in professional organizations, companies, and educational institutions, covering topics ranging from global and domestic operations to stakeholder management to human capital to optimizing performance.