Gretchen Schoenhaar

Gretchen Schoenhaar became Chief Executive Officer of Step Up For Students in April 2024. A 501c3 nonprofit that is the largest education choice scholarship funding organization in the nation, Step Up Step empowers families to access the best possible learning options for their children. It administers 99.9% of Florida’s education choice scholarships, serving over 520,000 students this year. Under her leadership, Step Up has managed the largest expansion of education choice programs in the nation’s history, and has significantly improved year-over-year performance in applications and payments. She was previously an executive at Barclays, a top global investment bank, where her executive roles included leading major technology integrations, spearheading regulatory compliance and fraud prevention efforts, and serving as Head of Payments. Throughout her career, Gretchen has been effective in ambiguous white space, leading innovation initiatives and realizing untapped opportunities. She is experienced in crafting and implementing global strategy, leading complex transformations, and working with executive stakeholders on both business and technology teams. She believes in the power of collaboration to launch groundbreaking work. She loves reading, design thinking, a good challenge and an empty whiteboard.