Gwendolyn VanSant is an experienced organizational change consultant and coach who works at the intersection of diversity leadership, equity and inclusion, and strategic planning. She serves as a nonprofit leader as the CEO and Founding Executive Director of BRIDGE and the principal and owner of consulting firm, Equity in Practice, LLC. A skilled community organizer, Gwendolyn is also a well-recognized thought leader on racial justice, reparations, gender equity, and anti-poverty work. She is a pioneer in integrating research-based positive psychology practices into her equity and inclusion approach.

Gwendolyn currently serves as the Vice Chair of the Town of Great Barrington W. E. B. Du Bois Legacy Committee. She is on the United States Attorney Office Civil Rights Task Force, Advisory Board of Greylock Federal Credit Union’s Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI) program, incorporator for Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts, and she is a board member of the Berkshire Taconic Community Foundation and Shakespeare & Company. Gwendolyn also served on the Massachusetts Department of Public Health COVID-19 Communication Advisory Panel.

A longtime activist, Gwendolyn has founded several initiatives based on the principles of equity and justice, the inherent dignity and worth of individuals, and our interconnected web of humanity. Her most recent accomplishment in 2020 is leading the community effort to rename the Great Barrington middle school, W.E.B. Du Bois Middle School, bringing it over the finish line the last three years. In September 2021, Gwendolyn received national recognition as the Drum Major for Justice by the National Community Action Council Council for her anti-poverty, mutual aid response to the negative impact of COVID on the most vulnerable communities and for her design of BRIDGE’s New Pathways program. New Pathways provides education in equity and justice across all sectors in the forms of labs, talks, conferences and learning modules including speakers like Angela Davis and Dr. Beverly Tatum. In 2021, Gwendolyn also published a chapter for her IDEA (Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, Accessibility) approach in the textbook, Diversity Matters: The Color, Shape and Tone of 21st Century Diversity.