Andrew served as the Executive Director of Mad Anthonys Children’s Hope House from 2013-2019, and in 2019 he assumed the role of CEO at Habitat for Humanity of Greater Fort Wayne.

“When I started at Children’s Hope House, I was the only full-time employee. Going to a larger organization, there’s just a lot of challenges, growth-related. So this [was] probably the most opportune time to take advantage of some self-work. It’s a lot larger of an organization, so I’m constantly evaluating—Am I leading effectively? How much is too much? How little is too little?”

“The maturity of the organization keeps marching on. The organization is constantly evolving. If you’re a leader that’s not evolving yourself, then pretty soon, you’re going to be obsolete.”

– ANDREW GRITZMAKER

Andrew participated in the Helene Foellinger Leadership Development Initiative’s Leadership Lab. As an Executive Leader, he and a dozen of his peers in the community gathered once a month for 12 months for all-day sessions, which also included out-of-classroom work and experiential learning opportunities.

Andrew’s growth through the Leadership Lab was featured in The Journey, a 33-minute documentary following four participants through their year-long experience in the program. The Journey highlights the Leadership Lab’s innovative approach to helping nonprofit leaders develop adaptive leadership skills.

"Before you can lead others and lead communities, you have to know yourself really well,” said Andrew. “And that's a moving target. So to be able to cut out some time on a consistent basis and just work on me—I saw that show up in big ways in how I led."

Watch The Journey below: