Gretchen Biesecker, Ph.D. is a developmental psychologist and program evaluator, with over 25 years of experience across multiple settings and countries and particular expertise in social-emotional development. Dr. Biesecker is Principal Consultant for Bee’s Knees Consulting, providing program evaluation and related services to a range of education, health, and human service non-profits and foundations.

Dr. Biesecker served for over 7 years as the Vice President of Evaluation at City Year, leading their national evaluation work across nearly 300 schools, reaching more than 150,000 students annually. Before joining City Year, she was a Research Assistant Professor for the Institute for Juvenile Research at the University of Illinois at Chicago, collaborating on a longitudinal study of biological and social risk and protective factors among youth. For five years, she served as the Research and Policy Coordinator at the Massachusetts Children’s Trust, a leading family support non-profit.

Dr. Biesecker has taught at multiple universities including Tufts University and the University of Massachusetts Boston. Her publications span the areas of psychology, epidemiology, and social policy. She earned her undergraduate degrees in Psychology and History from Carnegie Mellon University, a Ph.D. in Applied Child Development from Tufts University, and she completed a post-doctoral fellowship in Psychology at Örebro University in Sweden.