Kriss Deiglmeier
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Passions and Voice

Get to Know Kriss

 

Highlight Reel

Kriss Deiglmeier is a dynamic board director, CEO, and thought leader who drives growth and innovation. Known for her strategic leadership and transformative approach, she has served on numerous boards, helping them evolve by recruiting new members, restructuring committees, and improving governance practices. Her extensive experience spans both public and private sectors, with a particular focus on delivering value across industries and geographies.

An avid traveler, Kriss's passion for adventure and love of learning has shaped her belief system and fueled her commitment to positively impacting the world. Her diverse personal and professional experiences inspire her to create a better future for everyone’s family, friends, and communities. 

fun facts

  • Kriss believes you grow when you “repot” yourself. She has worked in the corporate, philanthropy, nonprofit, social enterprise, and academic sectors. 

  • She has backpacked around the world and visited more than 50 countries and counting.

  • Kriss has presented nationally and internationally on, social innovation, stakeholder economy, ESG,  responsible AI, design thinking, and impact investing. 

  • Each year, she picks a “word for the year” and strives to live by it — believing firmly in keeping things simple.

  • Kriss’s core beliefs include:  “Learn something new every day” and “Be adventurous. Be afraid.”

  • She loves walking meetings and agrees with Nilofer Merchant that “sitting is the smoking of our generation.” 

  • She prefers research articles over what seems like an infinite number of “blogs” 

  • She co-authored the most cited article on social innovation, Rediscovering Social Innovation—with over 3,200 citations. 

  • Her family, friends, and colleagues bring her joy and keep her going. 

 

Crossing Boundaries, Embracing Risk, Daring Change

To our community of social change partners, investors, innovators, and leaders:

In 2015, Tides sparked a process of rapid evolution to more effectively accelerate change in today’s interconnected and technologically-advanced world.

With a new vision, mission, and approach to guide the way for Tides, we have become more agile, strategic, and daring in our work to build a world of shared prosperity and social justice. Through each dollar and idea, we aim to leverage our experience, look for new ways of doing things, collaborate with diverse groups, and push boundaries in order to create change. This work has demanded a lot from the members of our team, from our Board of Directors, and from our partners. Their vision and hard work are already leading to remarkable impact results with over 119% increase in grantmaking in three years.

Now it’s time for our external brand identity–most visible in our logo, tagline, and website–to reflect our bold new direction, bringing creativity and strength to the way Tides’ work is communicated to our partners and collaborators across the globe.

We wanted our brand to express what we do and engage more partners in this work. One thing became clear: old patterns are not enough. If we want lasting and meaningful change, we must question our assumptions and step out of our comfort zones. We need Daring Change.

We can Dare Change as individuals –

Meet with someone who holds different views than you. Bring deep empathy and respect to that conversation and be open to learn and adapt.

We can Dare Change as organizations –

Listen to the stories and experiences of the people most affected by the issues you care about, stretch to serve new audiences, and hold yourself accountable for real and lasting impact.

We can Dare Change as collaborators –

Seek out unlikely partners, collaborate with other sectors, learn from other fields, and engage with other mindsets. Look for the alchemy generated by new ideas when unlikely partners interact.

We can Dare Change as a society –

Keep working to create opportunities for upward mobility, fighting for social justice, and protecting the planet for generations to come. Surrendering to the status quo is not an option.

Daring Change is a call to action for all of us. I am a part of this community, as are you.

For decades, Tides has supported thousands of nonprofit and philanthropic organizations, leaders, and initiatives to advance equality and human rights, environmental sustainability, healthy individuals and communities, and quality education for all, granting over 3 billion dollars.

As we look to the future, we remain deeply committed to accelerate the pace of social change at the nexus of funders, changemakers, and policy. Now more than ever, the global community needs to adapt, respond, work together, and embrace new and untested ideas.

Thank you for joining us to Dare Change and for your contributions to Tides’ vision for a more just, sustainable, and prosperous world.


Kriss Deiglmeier