Amanda Cloud is a Chief Operating Officer, Stardust at Stardust. She possess expertise in grants, public policy, non profits, governance, women's studies. Colleagues describe her as "Amanda plays an integral role in Houston's philanthropic community. Through her work at the Simmons Foundation, she has developed a reputation among fellow grantmakers as an excellent program officer, a dedicated board member, and a trusted sounding board. In collaborative efforts, she excels at moving the work forward with her ability to both ensure that all participants feel heard yet efficiently "cut to the chase" and take the conversation to the next level. She is able to peel away the layers of complexity and reveal the core issue or questions at hand, which makes her an exceptional facilitator." and "I have had the pleasure of being Leadership Houston class XXVII classmates with Amanda as well as serving with her on a local non-profit grant review committee. Amanda brought big picture focus and clarity of details to the process of reviewing projects which facilitated the review process tremendously. In our Leadership Houston Class, I was able to truly see many wonderful personal and professional qualities in Amanda. She is empowering, articulate, intelligent, focused, hard-working and compassionate. It is my pleasure to recommend Amanda."