Cindy Stewart Rivarde serves as the Chief Executive Officer of Rockville Economic Development, Inc. She combines her extensive experience and demonstrated success in creating vibrant downtown spaces, encouraging economic growth, and promoting cultural initiatives to lead REDI in new and inventive ways that attract, grow, and retain businesses within the City of Rockville. She joined REDI after serving as the Deputy City Manager for the City of Coral Springs, Florida—a city with 133,000 residents and more than 1,000 employees. In that role, she helped to manage a $198 million annual budget and had direct responsibility and oversight of the Economic Development Office, Community Development Services, Community Redevelopment Area Operations,Communications and Marketing, as well as other departments. Prior to her role as Deputy City Manager for the City of Coral Springs, Cindy served as Community and Economic Developer for the City of Modesto, California. Her broad responsibilities included economic development, community development, planning and zoning, building, and engineering and road design. She excelled in bringing in new business and fostering business expansion, creating marketing and development plans for city-owned destination assets, overseeing the operation of the Convention and Visitor Bureau, and securing funding and financing for various projects. She obtained her law degree from the University of Connecticut School of Law, a master of fine art in painting from Towson University, and a bachelor of arts degree in dramatic art/studio art from the University of North Carolina. Cindy invests in continuous professional development through education offered by the International Economic Development Council and remains active in the profession as a member of many industry-related organizations and frequent speaker.