Gayle Peterson, Senior Partner
As co-founder of The Headwaters Group, Gayle has more than 25 years of experience in philanthropy, non-profit management, and public policy issues involving housing, the arts, community development, and environmental conservation. She is driven by a focused vision, a commitment to social justice, and community action and partnership.

Gayle began her career in policy as a legislative director for the Health and Medicine Policy Research Group and the Chicago Council on Urban Affairs. She later served as program director of the Great Lakes Protection Fund, executive director of the Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy, and executive director of Milkweed Editions, a national non-profit literary press. At Milkweed, she developed Alliance for Reading and Literature for a Land Ethic, both of which promote using art and literature as tools for policy change.

Gayle earned a Master of Arts in Social Policy from the University of Chicago and received the Minnesota Award for Excellence for her work in promoting children's literacy. Gayle is currently enrolled in the Executive Education Masters program jointly administered by the Oxford Said Business School and the HEC School of Management in Paris. Her dissertation is on global social enterprise philanthropy. She is a member of the American Evaluation Association, the Social Enterprise Alliance, and the Will Steger Foundation.

She and her family live in Saint Paul, Minnesota. They are creating a land trust in honor of her father on Cape Breton Island in Nova Scotia, Canada. On this land, they are also creating an heirloom apple orchard. The property, located on a wild-salmon river, will also serve as a source of inspiration for a writers-in-residence program.

Contact Gayle Peterson: 651.690.2733 or gpeterson@headwatersgroup.com