Kristen Seckler
Kirsten Suto Seckler is a seasoned marketing and nonprofit executive with nearly 30 years of leadership experience with international, national, and local nonprofit organizations.
Seckler has spent her career using marketing, communications, and fundraising to drive social change and impact, primarily through sports. She is the Founder of Making Waves Consulting, a boutique consultancy designed to help mission-driven organizations maximize their impact, reach, and revenue. Through decades of work at well-known and trusted nonprofits and over a decade of teaching at Georgetown University’s School of Continuing Studies graduate program, Kirsten has built expertise and experience that she shares with others to help make the world a better place.
Kirsten spent six years with Shatterproof, helping the young national nonprofit that addresses the ever-growing substance use disorder epidemic impacting the nation. She developed their diverse mass-market fundraising capabilities, including a direct response program, peer-to-peer fundraising initiatives, events, and a corporate partnership program. She also helped build the brand and market the impact work that focused on bringing evidence-informed interventions to the public and ending the stigma of addiction, negatively impacting those with substance use disorder and their families. As the Chief Marketing & Communications Officer for Shatterproof, she helped launch new initiatives, including the Shatterproof Treatment Atlas—a platform to help individuals and their families find the right type of quality addiction treatment—and a national plan to end addiction stigma in the United States.
For over 20 years, Seckler served as the global Chief Marketing Officer at Special Olympics International, leading a worldwide team to creatively shape and challenge perceptions about people with intellectual disabilities through sports. As a member of the global executive leadership team and throughout her tenure with the movement, she played a pivotal role in the global growth of Special Olympics, which is now present in nearly 200 countries worldwide and reaches more than 6 million athletes, boasting almost 90 percent brand recognition and familiarity. Her accomplishments included setting the global strategic agenda for the organization and organizing and promoting 11 Special Olympics World Games, both Winter and Summer, in locations throughout the world, including China, Japan, Korea, Ireland, Greece, Austria, and the United Arab Emirates. She helped transform the Special Olympics from a U.S.-centric brand to a global brand.
Seckler has been an Adjunct Professor at the Georgetown University School of Continuing Studies, teaching with the Integrated Marketing and Sports Industry Management Programs since 2013. Before joining Special Olympics, Seckler worked in the marketing department at Kraft, where she helped manage the Oscar Mayer Wienermobile brand icon and its year-round marketing tour, which drove sales for products. She also spent five years working as a print journalist.
Seckler was an honoree of the Washington Women in Public Relations Woman of the Year Award and is an accomplished speaker and guest lecturer. She was named one of PRWeek’s Health Influencer 30 Class of 2022. She is also the Chair of the Special Olympics District of Columbia Board of Directors, overseeing a Board of 18 and developing the fundraising infrastructure for the local chapter of the international organization.
Seckler is a proud alumnus of the University of Delaware and has a Certificate in Nonprofit Executive Management from Georgetown University.