Cordell E. Stokes has over twenty-five years of professional executive experience in non-profit, private sector management and governmental relations.
A Shaker Heights High School football and basketball varsity, Lake Erie League (LEL) standout, he accepted a full scholarship upon graduation to play football as a free safety for Central State University.
Later, Stokes decided to pursue his true passion to play collegiate basketball and accepted a basketball scholarship to Lakeland Community College in Mentor, Ohio where he was voted to second team all-conference by the conference coaches. Stokes then accepted a basketball scholarship to Point Loma Nazarene University in San Diego, California where he successfully completed his collegiate career as captain of the men’s basketball team and continued his basketball career through invitation into various west coast pro-am and oversea leagues. Stokes was inducted into the Shaker Heights High School Football Hall of Fame (Defense) in 1995.
His athletic accomplishments and educational attainment laid the foundation for his current business ownership as chairman and CEO for CLC Stokes Consulting Group, a national business development, corporate expansion and governmental relations firm headquartered in Cleveland, Ohio since 2015.
Through his firm, Stokes advises and guides corporate CEOs to expand their company and their services into major west coast cities including Phoenix, Arizona; Los Angeles, California; Las Vegas, Nevada and Houston, Texas. He also advises union trade associations, local, state and national candidates and or elected officials. In 2021, Stokes was recommended by Cuyahoga County Executive Armond Budish to serve on the Citizens Advisory Council on Equity (CACE) and received an unanimous vote of acceptance by the Cuyahoga County Council. He also serves on the (CACE) Criminal Justice sub-committee.
Stokes’ most fond career memories include his appointment in 1999 by the National Aeronautics & Space Administration (NASA) former administrator, Daniel S. Goldin, to serve as Business Consultant to NASA’s Minority Business Resource Advisory Committee (MBRAC). He was named co-chair to the HBCU sub-committee charged to attain and implement the administrators HBCU procurement inclusionary goals agency-wide. In 2006, Stokes was tapped to be a founding executive team member (Sr. Director) in the opening of the Las Vegas Clark County Urban League (LVCCUL). During his tenure at LVCCUL, Stokes secured through advocacy at the state legislature $500,000 from Ways Means and $350,000 from the State of Nevada.
Recruited back into the private sector in 2008, Stokes was named VP of Business Development & Governmental Relations for Las Vegas ‘s largest Black-owned insurance firm, Branch-Hernandez & Associates (BHA). While an executive at BHA, Stokes was contracted to perform advocacy roles for the Big “I” — The Independent Insurance Agents and Brokers ofAmerica (IIABA) on Ways and Means and Financial Services congressional committees. In 2010, Stokes expanded BHA into Cleveland, Ohio and Phoenix, Arizona where he was elevated to managing partner.
Politically, Stokes is proud to have been a founding member and spokesperson (2004-2009) for the very influential bi-partisan Caucus of African-American Nevadans (CAAN), a political action committee.
Stokes’ leadership has resulted in several awards and recognitions from around the country. His most memorable include the Cuyahoga Valley National Park Conservancy Diversity & Inclusion Visionary.