Gretchen Barton

Gretchen Barton (she/her) is Principal at Worthy Strategy Group, LLC, Research Director at Future Majority, and former policy lead at the Harvard-founded research firm, Olson Zaltman. With a special interest in the psychology underpinning behavior change, Gretchen has designed and delivered a number of initiatives in the policy space, including studies around poverty in America for the Gates Foundation and Gender Justice for Story-at-Scale. Her research in the public health space has spanned hazing behavior and how to stop it, trauma, cults, tribalism, alcohol-related behavior, sexual health, and smoking cessation. Gretchen has led research and served as a behavioral science strategist for political organizations and campaigns (e.g. NextGen America, New Moral Majority, The Lincoln Project, Ideas 42, Way to Win, Unite the Country, the DNC, and others), uncovering key messaging insights to turn out the youth vote, revealing voters’ deepest hopes and dreams for presidential campaigns, and uncovering deep insights in real-time to key organizers in the build-up to the 2020 election with the Yellow Brick Road study. Gretchen holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Communications and Planning Campaigns with distinction in research from Cornell University. She has written for the Journal of College Student Development and the American Journal of Health Behavior, and co-authored, Prevalence and Profile: Hazing Among College Students and Points of Intervention. She recently co-authored “The Science of Winning with Stories: Using Agency, Urgency, and Community,” a reflection on the most effective messaging to engage and move a populace.