Gretchen Kunkel, M.H.A., M.B.A.

Gretchen H. Kunkel has dedicated her career to improving the health and well-being of children, families, and communities. For 30 years, she has worked directly in food systems, food insecurity, built environment, public health, children’s and women’s health, community development, and early care and education. At The Moran Company, Gretchen serves as a Senior Search Consultant, bringing her extensive experience to support transformational change within nonprofit organizations through leadership recruitment. In addition to her work at The Moran Company, she provides program development and support, advocacy, fundraising, research, strategic planning, and administrative support to nonprofit and philanthropic organizations through her firm, GHK Consulting, located in Ohio.

From 2008 to 2018, Gretchen was president of KC Healthy Kids, a Kansas City nonprofit organization advancing children’s health by increasing opportunities for healthy eating and active living – an organization she helped found in 2004. Key accomplishments included launching the Greater Kansas City Food Policy Coalition, starting a multi-system early care and education effort for children ages 0-3 and their families, initiating multiple farm-to-school and youth advocacy initiatives, and advancing numerous policy and environmental changes positively impacting healthier lifestyles in the region. During her tenure, KC Healthy Kids became a leading advocate for children’s health, receiving a Regional Leadership Award for outstanding contributions in the Kansas City region in 2016. In 2016 and 2017, KC Healthy Kids also received a Philly Award of Distinction for outstanding achievements in nonprofit marketing and communications.

Before assuming her role at KC Healthy Kids, Gretchen served as Associate Executive Director of the Center for Community Solutions, a research and advocacy nonprofit organization in Cleveland, Ohio. Her activities included managing domestic violence/elder abuse planning efforts, directing the Title X Family Planning program, administering major applied research projects, and overseeing agency finances and administration. She also served as the Director of Community Health Services at the Center for Health Affairs, a metropolitan hospital association in Cleveland, where she led the organization’s community health improvement efforts.

Gretchen has been active in several organizations and coalitions addressing health and human services. She is an author on farm-to-school, the built environment, and social and health indicators. She has provided numerous presentations on various aspects of healthy eating and active living. Gretchen has both her Master’s Degrees in Health Administration and Business Administration from the University of Pittsburgh and a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science from the University of Kansas. She has also received training on racism and racial equity from the Racial Equity Institute and coalition-building from the Center for Creative Leadership.