Ginny McGinn will be the speaker for the 2017 Rubenstein School Commencement Ceremony to be held Sunday, May 21. Ms. McGinn is the Executive Director of Center for Whole Communities, an organization, with offices in Burlington, that fosters inclusive communities, strongly rooted in place, where all people have a healthy relationship with the natural world. 

A nationally renowned leader in the fields of social and environmental change, Ms. McGinn holds decades of experience building transformative partnerships across lines of power and privilege.  She facilitates and consults on organizational change around the country, using “Whole Thinking Practices” and the tools she and her colleagues have helped evolve at Center for Whole Communities. 

Previously, Ms. McGinn served as president of Bioneers, a national nonprofit dedicated to disseminating practical and visionary solutions for restoring Earth’s ecosystems and healing human communities. Ms. McGinn’s work in the world focuses on cultivating practices that support whole communities and bringing those practices into our daily lives. Her deep expertise in how change happens, from individual transformation to that of entire communities or systems, provides the foundation for her leadership.   

She has been called a “radical change midwife,” in addition to being a mother, artist, organizer, and meditator. Ms. McGinn resides in rural Vermont with her family. 

“The Rubenstein School could not be more fortunate to have someone whose values so closely align with those of the School as our 2017 commencement speaker,” said Rubenstein School Dean Nancy Mathews.