Gretchen Crosby Sims is a Chicago-based executive with Hakluyt, a global strategic advisory firm. She joined the firm in 2021 to launch its Chicago office and co-lead its business in the Midwest, and advises corporate and private equity clients across the region on the most important opportunities and risks facing their businesses. She also leads the firm’s Senior Hires practice in North America.

Prior to Hakluyt, Gretchen served as the executive director of the University of Chicago’s Institute of Politics, founded by IOP Director David Axelrod to develop the next generation of leaders in American politics and public service. From 2015 to 2017, she was a director at London-based impact investing intermediary Social Finance UK, and from 2003-2014 she was at The Joyce Foundation, a $1bn private grantmaking foundation in Chicago, where her last role was chief program executive. Earlier in her career, Gretchen worked at the Council on Foreign Relations, CNN, Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, and as a policy adviser to presidential candidate Bill Bradley.

Gretchen holds PhD and MA degrees in political science from Stanford University and a BA in government from Harvard University. She serves as a member of the Executive Committee of the Chicago Community Trust and is a member of the Economic Club of Chicago.