BBBS of Greater Charlotte welcomes new CEO Sarah Cherne. Sarah comes to us from her home in New England where she served as Executive Director of the Great Bay Chapter of the American Red Cross in New Hampshire. Sarah was with the Red Cross for the last five years and worked serving the needs of the people living in the coastal area of New Hampshire and Southern Maine. During her tenure Sarah lead two chapter mergers and created lasting and sustaining partnerships with many companies, organizations and individuals on the various issues surrounding disaster preparedness and health & safety. During her time at the American Red Cross, Sarah launched a number of very successful programs and increased the organizations productivity across all enterprise levels, doubled its disaster response as well as doubled the number of volunteers ready to respond to human need. Sarah has also been instrumental in a number of state wide pilot programs and initiatives including the School Based Preparedness Initiative, a pilot with Global Relief Technologies, a partnership with Servepro and with Wal-Mart as well as supported the creation of two television commercials highlighting Chapter activities across the state and the Be Red Cross Ready Campaign.  

Prior to the Red Cross, Sarah worked in Tampa, Florida as the regional Director of Program Research, Design and Evaluation at one of the largest Big Brother Big Sister agencies in the country. During her time there, she was responsible for growth, integration and creation of many leading mentoring programs that are now replicated across the country.

Sarah’s work history also includes a time as a private investigator in New York as well as a teacher for socially dysfunctional youth.

Sarah has a Masters in Criminology from the University of South Florida and completed her undergraduate studies in Criminology and Sociology from the University of Southern Maine. She is a graduate and Board member of Leadership Seacoast, a Portsmouth Rotary member and co-creator of MarketPlace Connection, an organization launched at supporting ethics and leadership in the business sector on the Seacoast. 

On a personal note, Sarah is married to Damon, and is the mother of two young boys, Alex and Ethan. They family resides in South Charlotte.