About the founder
Stephanie Houghton is a senior strategist and coalition architect with more than 15 years of experience leading complex political, civic, and organizational initiatives across the country. Her work spans multi‑million‑dollar campaigns, statewide ballot measures, and cross‑sector coalitions, where she specializes in aligning diverse stakeholders around clear strategy and actionable plans.
Stephanie has built and managed high‑performing teams, designed scalable campaign and organizational systems, and guided leaders through moments of uncertainty, growth, and structural change. Her approach blends rigorous analysis, narrative clarity, and grounded execution — always centered on people and the communities they serve.
She founded Cirrus Strategies to bring this combination of strategic clarity and people‑powered leadership to organizations working on structural change.
Work at a Glance
Work spanning large‑scale campaigns, statewide coalitions, and national strategy.
Oversaw a $4M statewide presidential operation, building systems and teams to support rapid growth and adaptive execution
Directed statewide strategy, operations, and coalition management across c3, c4, PAC, and campaign arms for a major democracy reform organization
Led the successful passage of a citywide ranked‑choice voting initiative through cross‑sector coalition alignment and narrative strategy
Managed a $2.1M congressional campaign spanning multiple media markets and diverse stakeholder groups
Advised national democracy organizations on multi‑year strategy, coalition design, and implementation
Built scalable systems for campaigns and coalitions operating across multiple states and organizational structures
Trained and developed hundreds of staff, organizers, and emerging leaders across campaigns and civic organizations
Facilitated cross‑ideological coalitions and multi‑organization tables to drive structural reform
