Cindy is the owner/principal of COHORT, a design and consulting firm in Litchfield Park, Arizona, specializing in desert climates.  She provides custom landscape design services as well as consultations on plant problem diagnosis, propagation and greenhouse management, and garden design and coaching.  Cindy served for six and a half years at South Mountain Community College (SMCC) as Associate Dean of Instruction for Career and Technical Education and Extended Campuses.  Before that, she was Chair of the Technology and Agriculture Department at Mesa Community College (MCC) and served for 14 years as Director of Horticulture.  She wrote curriculum for and taught 14 different classes.  Many of the graduates from the program are working in industry today in and outside Arizona. She taught the ACNP (Arizona Certified Nursery Professional) short course for six years for the Arizona Nursery Association (ANA) and has taught and continues to teach the Plant Identification workshop for the Arizona Certified Landscape Professional (ACLP) program.

Cindy received her B.S. degree in Horticulture from Oklahoma State University and her M.S. from Arizona State University in Environmental Science specializing in plant problem diagnosis. She continued her graduate studies at ASU in plant biology and medical botany, serving four years as a research associate.  Cindy is an Arizona Certified Landscape Professional, certified in Sustainable Landscape Management, and a SMARTSCAPE professional.

Cindy was recognized by the Morrison School of Agribusiness and Resource Management at ASU Polytechnic for her dedicated service to Agribusiness as a ‘Friend of Agriculture’. She was honored as the Post-Secondary Ag Educator of the Year by the Arizona Agriculture Teachers Association, received the honorary State Degree from Arizona FFA, and the President’s Award from the Arizona Nursery Association. She presented at the Arizona Municipal Water Users Association (AMWUA) 5th and 6th Annual Xeriscape Conferences, where she also served as a judge for the Xeriscape Landscaping contest. Before her experience in postsecondary education, Cindy worked in the green industry as a consultant with local growers and propagators, municipalities and landscape architects, HOAs, and Luke Air Force Base. She was a partner with Phoenix Landscaping and Design Inc., providing design, build, and maintenance services in the greater Phoenix area. She has managed both wholesale and retail nurseries, served as head propagator and greenhouse manager, and coordinated contracted plant production.

Cindy has received numerous grants, including two from the Arizona Community Tree Council for projects at MCC and SMCC and an $80,000.00 grant from the Arizona Department of Water Resources for her design of the “Native Habitat Learning Park at Villa de Paz Elementary School” in Phoenix, Arizona.

Cindy lives in Litchfield Park with her husband, Rob, in their family home, which they designed and built. She designed the landscape and, with help from her family, installed it, including trees and shrubs grown by herself and students at MCC. She shares her garden with her children Adam (Debby), Ryan (Ryan), and Amy (Nate), her five grandchildren, Michael, Louie, Maddie, Milla, and Maisie, and many Gambel’s quail and other birds including a Great Horned Owl, a bobcat, occasionally coyotes, cottontail rabbits, lizards, a coachwhip snake, and a colony of rock squirrels, AKA Rocky and Bullwinkle, and their numerous offspring.