Gretchen is a proactive, governance-focused director known for candid, ethical advice to management and peers. Her executive experience encompasses Growth and P&L roles across aerospace, technology, and professional services where she has been repeatedly sought to renovate strategies, infrastructure, and performance for sustainable growth. The distinctive crossover scope of Gretchen’s 30-year career powers integrative forward-thinking and dot-connecting on complex, multivariant issues. Her intelligence background sharpens an incisive oversight and dynamic risk management approach. Female military veterans are but half of one percent of the US population, with Gretchen in the even smaller subset to have applied that unique perspective in the C-suite.

An accredited Governance Fellow by the National Association of Corporate Directors and member of Women Corporate Directors, Gretchen has been a board member and strategic advisor to multiple profit and non-profit organizations. Her current roles include the Board of the National Defense Industrial Association which represents 1,600 corporate and 65,000 individual members, STEM for Her, and Women in Defense for which she previously served as Chair of the National Council.

Gretchen is actively engaged with the technology innovation and entrepreneurial ecosystem as an angel investor and limited partner. She regularly evaluates talent, product viability, and market potential of start-ups and corporate M&A targets.

A graduate of the US Air Force Academy, Gretchen holds two Master’s degrees and an advanced executive certificate from the MIT Sloan School of Management. Currently living in Virginia, her global perspective comes from a career spanning the US, Europe, and Asia. Her charitable interests center on furthering professional and educational opportunities for women and girls.