Kadi’s love for leadership and development started at an early age with a strong passion to serve people combined with a deep hunger to learn how to help in ways that really make a difference. She is still on a quest to learn how she can help.

Kadi received her Bachelor’s Degree in Nursing from Pacific Lutheran University (Tacoma, WA) and served as a Registered Nurse in a Veteran’s Hospital Mental Health Unit (West Palm Beach, FL) for several years before being recruited as Director of Health and Wellness at Palm Beach Atlantic University. She was eventually promoted to Dean of Student Development, additionally overseeing Residential Life, the Discipline System, Student Leadership Development initiatives, and on-campus Student Development Programming. In addition, she earned a Masters Degree in Human Resource Development with special recognition for her expertise in Transformational Leadership.

But Kadi’s real passion has always been serving the community by working with leaders to increase their effectiveness in whatever role of influence they have been given. She has logged thousands of volunteer hours helping people grow and learn how to fully fulfill their calling, with a special emphasis on serving people of faith and local church ministries.

In early 2000, Kadi was recruited by her local church to help them navigate scaling a fast-growing faith community and innovative ministry strategy. She served 16 years at Christ Fellowship Church (Palm Beach Gardens, FL) leading in a variety of critical leadership roles as the church grew from 3,500 to 23,000, launched eight additional campuses, and exceeded $50m budget. Her final role was as Executive Director of Multisite in which she oversaw all campuses, built a campus launch strategy, and created the Kaléo School of Leadership, an innovative leadership development system for growing campus volunteer and staff teams from within the congregation.

In 2016, Kadi transitioned from full-time church leadership to working directly with leaders in business and ministry through Kadi Cole & Company as well as key roles with Leadership Network, Replenish Ministries, and Multisite Solutions. Kadi works extensively with multi-site churches, technology businesses, and individual leaders from a variety of professional settings. Kadi’s newest passion project is to help church leaders who want to do a better job developing the female leadership talent in their congregations.

In 2019, Kadi wrote her best-selling book, Developing Female Leaders, to help male church and organizational leaders have practical ways to develop the women on their staff and teams. Two years later Kadi followed up DFL with her book, Find Your Leadership Voice in 90 Days, written for female leaders to show up, speak up, and stand out with confidence.

Kadi is a witty, engaging, practical, and down-to-earth speaker and has spoken on a variety of topics related to leadership, organizational development, spiritual growth, parenting, and living a full life. She lives in sunny South Florida with her family and loves visiting her roots in Montana, garage sales, intense Scrabble games, home DIY projects, and potluck dinners with friends.