Gretchen A. Winter, J.D. is the Executive Director of the Center for Professional Responsibility in Business and Society at the College of Business at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (the "Center"). She is a frequent speaker on professional responsibility, ethics, corporate social responsibility, and legal matters for universities, professional associations, governments, and corporate and not-for-profit organizations within and outside of the United States.
As part of her role as the Center’s Executive Director, Ms. Winter also serves as a member of the Steering Committee for the National Center for Professional and Research Ethics, adjunct faculty with the University of Illinois College of Law, visiting lecturer at the Universite de Cergy-Pontoise School of Law, faculty for various Ethics and Compliance Officer Association educational programs, and as Program Director for The Conference Board Global Council on Business Conduct.
Ms. Winter chaired the Ethics and Compliance Officer Association Board of Directors, and she has been on professional responsibility, business conduct, and ethics committees and programs for the Practising Law Institute, The Conference Board, the American Bar Association, the Society of Corporate Compliance and Ethics, and DePaul University. She co-authored several articles for practitioners on these topics.
Gretchen Winter’s Background
Prior to joining the Center in 2007, she worked for 18 years at Baxter International Inc. in Deerfield, Illinois. She served for more than a decade as Vice President and Counsel, Business Practices, and in that role developed the company's global ethics program. Ms. Winter also has worked as an attorney with Seyfarth Shaw, a law firm in Chicago, and as a legislative analyst with the State of Illinois.
Ms. Winter received her J.D. from the University of Chicago and her bachelor's degree from the University of Illinois at Chicago. She serves as an active member of a number of not-for profit boards, including Leadership Greater Chicago Fellows Association and the Board of Visitors for the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at the University of Illinois-Chicago. She also is active in alumni activities at The University of Chicago Law School, chaired the Western Illinois University Board of Trustees, served as a member of the Illinois Student Assistance Commission, and has been an active member of several other state educational boards. Ms. Winter also has chaired boards and committees for community organizations including Lutheran Child and Family Service of Illinois, Pegasus Players, and the Evanston Hospital Institutional Review Board.