FRACTIONAL OPERATIONAL LEADERSHIP
Your Fractional COO
for the Work
That Can't Wait
Operational leadership and strategic execution for nonprofits, foundations, and global health organizations.
20+ years leading operations for global health initiatives and federal public health programs, across 25+ countries.
WHO I PARTNER WITH
Built for Organizations Where Operations Carry Weight
I work with leaders who cannot afford for execution to fall short.
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Global Health Organizations
Navigating multi-country operations, donor complexity, and implementing partner coordination.
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Nonprofits & Foundations
Scaling from program delivery to durable systems, managing complex grant portfolios across teams.
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Executive Teams
That need operating structure, sharper decision-making, and forward motion. Not more meetings.
Bring me in when execution is stuck, leadership capacity is stretched, or the work is too important to drift..
SERIVCES
How We Work Together
Three ways to bring senior operational leadership into your organization.
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Strategic Projects
Defined, high-impact engagements to move a priority initiative, solve an operational challenge, or stabilize a critical function.
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Fractional Executive Leadership
Senior executive leadership embedded in your team. Fractional COO or Chief of Staff support without the cost or commitment of a full-time hire.
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Operational Systems Design
Dashboards, AI agents, and automated workflows built to make your operations modern and sustainable.
Defined engagements typically run 8 to 16 weeks. Fractional partnerships start at 3 months.
WHAT I BELIEVE
How I Think About This Work
Three convictions shaped by two decades inside the systems most consultants only study from the outside.
Many mission-driven organizations don't have a talent problem. They have an execution problem.
01
If your strategy lives in slide decks but not in priorities, decisions, and team rhythms, it isn't strategy. It's aspiration.
02
Strong operations are not separate from impact. They are what make impact possible, repeatable, and sustainable.
03
This is how I work. It is also how I think.
BY THE NUMBERS
Two Decades, Measured
$250 M
Bilateral Global Health Portfolio, Tanzania
31
Regions Under Portfolio Leadership
25+
Countries of Program Experience
IN PRACTICE
What Senior Operational Leadership Actually Delivers
A snapshot from 20+ years of operational leadership. Each engagement looks different. The method does not.
Names and organizations are withheld to respect partner confidentiality.
$250M PEPFAR Portfolio, Tanzania
Deputy Country Director and operational lead for a $250M PEPFAR portfolio spanning 31 regions.
Result
A more focused portfolio, reduced duplication, cost savings, and sustained performance through leadership transitions.
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$250M PEPFAR Portfolio, Tanzania
Deputy Country Director and operational lead for a $250M PEPFAR portfolio spanning 31 regions.
Deputy Country Director and operational lead for a $250M PEPFAR portfolio spanning 31 regions. Streamlined the portfolio through stronger government alignment, consolidating 60 cooperative agreements into 40 focused programs.
A $250M bilateral portfolio across 31 regions and 60 cooperative agreements, in a high-stakes donor environment. Mounting pressure to advance country ownership while maintaining performance through normal turnover at the country and agency level.
Held operational responsibility for the portfolio. Partnered with the Ministry of Health, national partners, and local community-based organizations to align cooperative agreements with government priorities and reduce duplicative efforts. Built succession plans and staffing structures that positioned local leaders for country ownership.
A more focused portfolio of 40 cooperative agreements, reduced duplication, and cost savings. Performance sustained across changes in country and agency leadership. Systems held under formal audit. Local leadership and country ownership advanced through deliberate succession planning.
National Emergency Operations Center, Cameroon
Supported interagency coordination to deliver Cameroon’s first national public health Emergency Operations Center.
Result
A functioning national EOC transitioned to government ownership and still operational today.
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National Emergency Operations Center, Cameroon
Supported interagency coordination to deliver Cameroon’s first national public health Emergency Operations Center.
Supported interagency coordination across CDC, DoD, USAID, State Department, and the Cameroonian Ministry of Health to deliver the country's first national public health Emergency Operations Center, with operational oversight on project build and budget.
Cameroon had no national public health Emergency Operations Center and no physical infrastructure to house one. Standing one up required coordinated execution across multiple U.S. federal agencies and Cameroonian government counterparts, on a Presidential Initiative timeline.
As Deputy Country Director for the Global Health Security Agenda program at CDC Cameroon, I supported interagency coordination across these partners and provided operational oversight on the project build and budget through construction and operationalization.
A functioning national EOC that was transitioned to government ownership and remains operational today.
CDC VACS Pilot, U.S. Context
Led $8M in contracted operations for the first U.S. pilot of CDC’s Violence Against Children and Youth Survey.
Result
A successfully operationalized pilot supporting the first U.S. application of an established global methodology.
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CDC VACS Pilot, U.S. Context
Led $8M in contracted operations for the first U.S. pilot of CDC’s Violence Against Children and Youth Survey.
Led $8M in contracted operations for the first U.S. pilot of CDC's Violence Against Children and Youth Survey, aligning survey methodologists, epidemiologists, and key stakeholders around a coordinated operational plan.
CDC's Violence Against Children and Youth Survey, an established global surveillance methodology, was being piloted in the U.S. context for the first time. The pilot required coordinated operational management across technical experts, external partners, and a substantial budget.
Held the contracting and budget authority across the pilot. Convened survey methodologists, epidemiologists, and external stakeholders to translate a global methodology into U.S. operational reality.
A successfully operationalized pilot that supported the first U.S. application of an established global methodology.
CDC Honor Awards and Policy Board
Vice Chair and Chair of the CDC Honor Awards and Policy Board governing recognition decisions across 12,000+ staff.
Result
A redesigned awards process, faster decisions, and four years of sustained governance leadership.
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CDC Honor Awards and Policy Board
Vice Chair and Chair of the CDC Honor Awards and Policy Board governing recognition decisions across 12,000+ staff.
Vice Chair and Chair of the CDC Honor Awards and Policy Board over four years, governing recognition decisions across the agency's 12,000+ enterprise staff. Supported the revamping of the awards process and timeline under a new CDC Director.
A CDC enterprise-level policy board governing federal employee awards and performance recognition for 12,000+ staff. A new CDC Director and shifting HHS department priorities required a redesigned awards process, updated categories, and faster decisions, all while preserving the process integrity essential to institutional trust.
Appointed by the CDC Chief Operations Officer. Served as Vice Chair, then Chair for nine months. Supported the revamping of the awards process and timeline under the new CDC Director. Contributed to executive decisions on new awards categories and criteria aligned to HHS department priorities, improving decision speed across the cycle.
A redesigned awards process aligned to new agency leadership and HHS priorities. Faster decisions across the awards cycle. Four years of sustained governance leadership across a federal agency of 12,000+ staff.
ABOUT
Meet Brandy Airall-Perry
I did not study these problems in a classroom. I managed them in places where the margin for error was zero.
I spent 20+ years inside the systems most consultants only study from the outside. As Deputy Country Director in Tanzania, I ran day-to-day operations for a $250M bilateral global health portfolio across 31 regions. In Cameroon, I stood up an Emergency Operations Center from the ground up. I now bring that same operational discipline to nonprofits, foundations, and global health organizations through Kindred Bridge Advisory.
Operating discipline is a justice issue.
CREDENTIALS & RECOGNITIONS
MPH, George Washington University
Lean Six Sigma Certified
BA, Hampton University
20+ years at the CDC
FAC-COR Federal Acquisition Certified
25+ countries of program experience
IN THEIR WORDS
Calm. Clarity. Forward Motion.
A pattern emerges across two decades of work: clarity, calm, and the kind of operational discipline that turns ambition into outcomes.
Names and organizations are withheld to respect partner confidentiality.
Brandy walks into a complex environment and within weeks the team has language, structure, and a path forward. She does not just observe the chaos. She organizes it.
COUNTRY DIRECTOR
Implementing Partner, East Africa
She has the rare combination of a strategist's mind and an operator's hands. Our leadership team left every meeting clearer, more aligned, and better equipped to move.
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
National Public Health Nonprofit
Brandy is the person you call when the work cannot wait and the standards cannot drop. She brought calm, rigor, and momentum during a pivotal transition.
BOARD CHAIR
Global Health Foundation
COMMON QUESTIONS
Before We Begin
Honest answers to what most partners want to know before our first conversation.
How does a fractional COO engagement actually work? +
Every engagement begins with a short diagnostic. I spend time with you, your leadership team, and your operating rhythm to understand what is working and what is not. From there, we scope a right-sized engagement, typically 10 to 20 hours per week, where I sit inside your team, not outside it.
I attend the meetings that need an executive in the seat, drive the initiatives that cannot wait, and build the infrastructure that lets your team sustain the work after I transition out. The goal is never to become permanent. The goal is to leave you stronger than you were.
What size organizations do you typically partner with? +
Most of my partners are organizations with $5M to $75M in annual budget, between 25 and 250 staff, and a leadership team that has outgrown its existing operating structure.
Smaller than that, you usually need a doer. Larger than that, you usually need a search firm. The sweet spot is the organization that is past startup but not yet at institutional scale, where one senior operator can move the whole system.
Do you only work with global health organizations? +
No. Global health is where I spent two decades, but the underlying work applies across nonprofits, foundations, and advocacy organizations.
Building operating systems that scale, translating strategy into execution, and bringing discipline to mission-driven environments are the same muscles whether the mission is infectious disease response, youth development, or philanthropic grantmaking. If your work has operational complexity and the stakes are real, we should talk.
What is the Operational Health Check, and is there a cost? +
It is a complimentary ten-question diagnostic that surfaces where your organization is leaking time, capacity, and momentum.
You receive a personalized written analysis from me within 48 hours, along with two or three concrete recommendations you can act on immediately. No sales sequence. No automated PDF. If it is useful and you want to talk further, we schedule a conversation. If not, you keep the report.
Are you available for in-person work, or fully remote? +
Both. I am based in Atlanta and work remotely with partners nationwide. For engagements that require on-site presence, including leadership offsites, board retreats, and team integration moments, I travel.
For sustained fractional work, most of the collaboration happens remotely, with periodic in-person anchors when the work calls for it.
How do you handle confidentiality and references? +
Client work is confidential by default. Organizations are not named on this site or in marketing materials without written permission.
For prospective partners who want to speak with past clients, I can arrange direct reference conversations once we are mutually serious about working together.
What does pricing look like? +
Pricing depends on scope, duration, and the depth of leadership presence you need. Strategic Projects are typically fixed-fee. Fractional engagements are monthly retainers sized to your runway and the work that genuinely needs an executive in the seat.
You will receive a clear proposal with a scoped outcome before we sign anything. No surprise invoices. No scope creep without a conversation.
DIAGNOSTIC TOOL
The Operational Health Check
Not every organization is ready for a full engagement. The Operational Health Check is a brief diagnostic designed to surface where time, capacity, and momentum are being lost.
What You Receive
— A scored 10-question assessment
— A short written analysis within 48 hours
— Two or three practical recommendations you can act on immediately
— Optional 30-minute readout call
LET'S BUILD THE BRIDGE TOGETHER
Schedule a 30-Minute Conversation
Bring the challenge that is not moving. We will talk through what is stuck, what is at risk, and what the strongest next step could be.