Kendra Cotton is a seasoned professional with more than 20 years of experience building and cultivating relationships to advance a favorable public image and positive strategic agenda for the individuals and organizations that she serves. Kendra is currently the Chief Executive Officer for New Georgia Project and its affiliated organization, New Georgia Project Action Fund. She assumed this role after serving as Chief Operating Officer at NGP and NGPAF. Prior to working at NGP and NGPAF, Kendra was the founding executive director of Rep GA Institute, Inc., Georgia’s statewide 501c3, nonpartisan leadership training hub, as well as its 501c4 arm, Represent Georgia Action Network. 

She has also served as the campaign manager for a U.S. Senate race and the campaign manager for the successful Georgia Association of Educators’ Vote “NO” on Amendment 1 statewide ballot initiative during the November 2016 election cycle. Prior to moving to Georgia, Kendra was the policy director for the NC State Treasurer’s office and completed a five-year tenure at UNC-Chapel Hill, serving first as the associate director of the Center for the Study of the American South and ending as the Project Director for the university’s Community-Campus Partnership initiative.

A staunch public-school and voting rights advocate, Kendra is a Diamond Life Member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. and resides in Smyrna, GA with her husband Michael and their three children, Jarah, Kael, and Rhys.