About Us

At Griffin Center, we share a belief that creating collaborations under a common vision is the best way to foster profound and sustained change, whether in a school, an organization or in a policy agenda. With offices in Denver, Santa Monica, and Portland, Griffin Center consultants work in conjunction with project partners and associates to serve a range of education clients from coast to coast. In bringing forward the expertise to support existing programs and novel ideas in incubation, the Center can assist with administrative oversight and capacity building, meeting facilitation, strategic planning, project design, professional development for educators and teaching artists, instructional modeling in the classroom, curriculum development and evaluative research.

Senior Staff

Lynn Waldorf, PhD, Executive Director. Lynn provides the leadership and vision behind the Center and many of it its collaborative projects. She has long and varied experience in education and project management. Lynn is also an award-winning researcher and nationally recognized program evaluator, having produced groundbreaking studies in arts education and literacy integration. A trained facilitator, she additionally provides consulting and strategic planning services on major collaborative projects.

Susan McGreevy-Nichols, Senior Director of Arts Education Policy and Practice. Susan is a seasoned strategic coach for schools, districts, and county offices of education that are planning for comprehensive arts programs. With over 30 years of classroom experience, Susan also develops curricula that promote creative and critical thinking in the Pre-K through Grade 8 classroom and is a highly regarded teacher trainer in arts integrated instruction. She is currently president of the National Dance Education Organization, participates on national policy committees and has co-authored five instructional books on dance education.

Kim Atwill, PhD, Senior Director of Literacy Research and Development. Kim has worked at the forefront of research on developing ways to improve early language acquisition and reading readiness in special populations. Fluent in Spanish and American Sign Language, she is a developer and translator of early literacy curriculum that has been proven effective in multiple settings. Kim’s specialty is applying researched-based theory at the practical level by training teachers and parents to effectively steer students to developmentally appropriate learning opportunities. The high caliber of her work and contributions to the field have consistently attracted the support of federal funding.

Griffin Associates

The Center also engages an outstanding team of seasoned professionals that function as Griffin Center Associates and assist with the development, implementation and oversight of Center projects and collaborations. These include professional writers, education administrators, researchers, and teacher trainers.

Our Tech Goddess

Susan Wolak, Owner of Wolak Enterprises. is the primary designer and web developer for Griffin Center. Susan has been working with computers since the early 80’s and in 1995 started a Web Development business as she saw the increase with interest in the internet. She is very knowledgeable in the many aspects of web design and development and enjoys working with her clients to help them with their ideas that start on paper and turn into reality. She loves technology and enjoys providing essential training on all aspects of the internet and technology.