Gretchen Ki Steidle is the Founder and President of Circles for Conscious Change, a transformative education firm working with social entrepreneurs, nonprofits, and corporations on the use of mindfulness as a design tool for social innovation. Gretchen is also the founder and President of Global Grassroots, an international organization that operated a social venture incubator and mindful-leadership program for women and girls in East Africa. She has an MBA from the Tuck School at Dartmouth and a BA in Foreign Affairs from the University of Virginia.

Gretchen is author of Leading from Within: Conscious Social Change and Mindfulness for Social Innovation (MIT Press, 2017) and lectures and teaches on mindfulness and social change worldwide. A certified Integrative Breathworker, Gretchen has been delivering breath-based therapeutic practices, resilience training, and trauma healing since 2002 to a range of individuals globally, including survivors of and first responders to war and mass disaster. Her workshops have been offered at institutions including the Skoll World Forum, Omega Institute, Kripalu Institute, Wellbeing Project, AshokaU Exchange, Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College and University of Virginia, among others.

In 2007, Gretchen was honored by World Business Magazine and Shell as one of the top International 35 Women Under 35. She was recognized in 2010 as a CNN Hero volunteering in Haiti after the earthquake. She was chosen in 2011 as one of seven Remarkable Women of the World by New Hampshire Magazine. In 2018, Gretchen was named one of Inc.’s Top 100 Leadership Speakers.

Contact: gretchen@garrisoninstitute.org