Cynthia Zollinger

Overview

Cynthia L. Zollinger is a cofounder of Cornerstone Research and has held multiple senior leadership roles including president and CEO from January 2007 through June 2014. She has over three decades of experience directing research on economic and financial issues arising in complex litigation.

Zollinger's primary consulting focus spans securities, corporate governance, executive compensation, taxation, mergers and acquisitions, bankruptcy, valuation, and damages estimation. She has addressed issues of materiality, loss causation, and damages on hundreds of securities class actions, including testifying in federal district court. Her work has encompassed companies in the technology, financial institutions, media, entertainment, pharmaceuticals, retail, and apparel industries.

Career History

• Managing Director, Cornerstone Research (current)
• President and CEO, Cornerstone Research (2007-2014)
• Managing Director, Cornerstone Research (prior to 2007)
• Senior Vice President at an international management consulting firm
• Banking and investment management roles

Education & Recognition

Zollinger holds an M.B.A. from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business and a B.A. from Wellesley College. She has taught at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business and at the Stanford Graduate School of Business and Law School. In 2023, Silicon Valley Business Journal named her to its Women of Influence 2023: Leadership × 100.

Consulting Magazine honored Zollinger for leadership and sustained impact in the consulting profession. Since cofounding the firm in 1989, she and her leadership partners have built a company committed to intellectual rigor, objectivity, and integrity.

Note: Cynthia Zollinger's current role is Managing Director at Cornerstone Research. She previously served as Chair of the Board before transitioning that role to Michael Topper in August 2024.