Gretchen Beverly Glick

Career Achievement

A career that began in the art world eventually led to the world of philanthropy for Gretchen Beverly Glick ’74.

After graduating with a bachelors degree in art from CLU, Glick went on to earn an M.A. in art history from Arizona State University in Tempe. Initially she worked as registrar/curator of art for Wichita Falls Museum and Art Center in Wichita Falls, Texas. In need of extra income for her displays, Glick began to do fundraising and found she was very good at it.

In 1983, her career path shifted when she became Assistant to the Dean of Mount St. Mary’s College in Los Angeles. Drawing on her experience and creativity, she established and administered a communications center and assisted the president with public relations and fundraising campaigns.

Three years later her love of art inspired Glick to accept a position with Very Special Arts in Cheyenne, Wyo., a nonprofit organization that provided cultural opportunities for disabled constituencies. As Executive Director, her responsibilities included managing a 3,000-person statewide volunteer network and 30 festival coordinators.  From that point on, she held numerous executive development and community relations positions, and from 1992-1998, served as Director of Christian Initiation at St. Martin of Tours Catholic Church in Los Angeles.

Glick believes that God has been her career director by opening doors for her to step through. The expertise she developed in fundraising and her “people first” philosophy (a legacy of her CLU education) have motivated her to start the CMTUS Foundation, a nonprofit foundation dedicated to making people aware of Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease. Diagnosed with this inherited form of peripheral neuropathy at the age of 9, Glick now spends full time building the organization, which has members in 26 countries, creating and distributing a newsletter, and raising funds to start a CMT rehabilitation center.