The credential is the career.
Catalyst Consult was founded by Dr. Shayna Cooke, Ed.D., SHRM-SCP, because the consulting engagements she hired over the years too often ended at the strategy stage — beautifully packaged, impeccably presented, and largely unimplemented. She built Catalyst Consult to be the firm she always wanted to hire…
one that stays through the hard parts
Dr. Shayna Cooke, Ed.D., SHRM-SCP
Founder & Principal Consultant
Shayna has spent her career at the intersection of people, strategy, and transformation. As Chief People Officer of a $40M organization, she oversaw Human Resources, Learning & Development, Marketing, Client Experience, and enterprise AI adoption — while simultaneously leading the company through its first-ever reduction in force and stewarding an active acquisition process.
She has built leadership development programs from the ground up, designed organizational structures for companies in transition, deployed AI adoption frameworks at the workforce level, and coached executives through the moments that define an organization's culture. Her work is grounded in a simple belief: that lasting transformation requires someone willing to be present for the execution, not just the planning.
Shayna holds a Doctor of Education (Ed.D.) in Leadership & Administration and the Senior Certified Professional designation from SHRM (SHRM-SCP). She is based in Richmond, Virginia.
“In my experience, organizations rarely fail because their strategy was wrong. They fail because the strategy never fully left the conference room — it was not communicated with enough clarity to change behavior, and it was not implemented with enough discipline to change outcomes.” ~ Dr. Shayna Cooke
That is the work Catalyst Consult does. Not JUST the plan — the execution.
If your organization is navigating a moment of real complexity, let's talk about what it will take to come through it stronger.