Steff Clothier serves as Director of School Readiness on the Philanthropy team at Gary. She develops and manages investments and solutions strategies to promote school readiness in areas such as healthy births, children’s early skills and family support, and a portfolio around early learning focused on preschool and child care. 

Steff’s career spans a variety of social change strategies including philanthropy, innovation, state policy, national policy efforts, student and community organizing, and campaigns covering issues including early childhood, poverty and welfare reform, and environmental issues. She’s happiest thinking of new ideas with diverse thinkers and bringing them to life. 

Prior to joining Gary, she was Senior Policy Director for the Alliance for Early Success, providing strategic support to state and national organizations. For nearly a decade, Steff led early care and education initiatives with state legislatures as Program Director with the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL). She led legislative efforts on welfare reform in the late 90s and early 2000s and prior to that was part of the founding team of Green Corps, the field school for environmental organizing. Her hobbies include spending time with trees, hiking, paddleboarding, tennis and getting out into nature in her VW camper.