Eileen R Growald

Eileen Rockefeller Growald is an author, public speaker, and venture philanthropist. Her recent memoir, Being a Rockefeller, Becoming Myself, details a journey of finding herself amidst one of America’s most storied families. Eileen’s newest literary work, a debut selection of poems titled Space Between, invites you into a more personal place of pause and reflection. Eileen is a visionary catalyst in the fields of mind/body health, social and emotional learning, and innovative philanthropy for clean energy. As founder of the Institute for the Advancement of Health in 1981, she pioneered broad acceptance of mind/body interactions in health and disease. She foresaw the related need for social and emotional learning (SEL) as an integral part of education, prompting Daniel Goleman’s bestseller, Emotional Intelligence, and the co-founding of CASEL (Collaborative for Academic, Social and Emotional Learning) in 1994. She and her husband, Paul, founded the Growald Climate Fund in 2007 to help reduce climate change by transitioning the energy sector to clean alternatives. She has also started two nonprofits to protect some of Vermont’s most beautiful open and agricultural spaces, and helped launch a pilot curriculum in Vermont promoting kindness and compassion among medical professionals. Eileen was a founding chair of Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors (2000), and has served as long-time chair of her family’s generational association. Eileen also serves on the board of the David Rockefeller Fund. She speaks internationally on topics relating to legacy, family, and philanthropy, leading discussions around the values that have helped keep the Rockefeller family together for seven generations. Eileen is the youngest daughter of David and Peggy Rockefeller, and a great-grand-daughter of John D. Rockefeller. She has two adult sons and lives with her husband on an organic farm in Vermont. She received her BA from Middlebury College in 1974 and her MA from Lesley College in 1976.