1816 Strategies

ABOUT CHARLENE

I'm Charlene Ridley, MBA — a Charlotte-based small business consultant, project management strategist, and the founder of 1816 Strategies.

I spent nearly three decades inside some of the most complex organizations in the country — U.S. Bank, Deloitte & Touche, E*TRADE, and HMS — leading strategy, managing large-scale transformation, and building the systems that allow businesses to grow without breaking. I was really good at it. But over time I kept noticing the same gap.

The small business owners I encountered weren't struggling because they lacked drive or ideas. They were struggling because they had no access to the kind of strategic thinking Fortune 500 companies take for granted. No one to build the growth strategy. No one to manage the execution. No one to stay in the room until the work was actually done.

That's the gap I left corporate to close. I wanted a greater impact than any single organization could contain. I wanted the freedom to be fully present for my kids. And I believed — and still believe — that talented founders deserve Big 4 thinking, not just big corporations.

Every client I take on, every strategy I build — it's bigger than me.

Ready to work with someone who will stay until it's built?