Tiffany Grunert named CEO of Darwin’s Ark
Congratulations to Tiffany Grunert on being named CEO of Darwin's Ark. She earned her CDI.D™ designation from Corporate Directors International, having completed the Board Certification Program at ACE LLC.
ACE LLC Announces ACE Graduate, Tiffany Grunert, has been named CEO of Darwin's Ark.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Darwin's Ark Names Tiffany Grunert CEO to Lead Strategic Expansion.
Animal health leader brings more than 20 years of experience to pet genetics nonprofit.
NATIONAL (Aug. 3, 2026) – Darwin's Ark, a nonprofit that advances community-driven scientific research for pets and their people, has named veteran animal health and nonprofit leader Tiffany Grunert, APR, CDI.D, its chief executive officer.
"At Darwin's Ark, we are committed to advancing scientific discovery through collaboration with pet owners and scientists," said Dr. Elinor Karlsson, co-founder, board chair, and chief scientist at Darwin's Ark. "Tiffany's exceptional leadership and passion for animal health research make her the right person to lead us into our next phase of growth."
Following a year of record-breaking community participation, Darwin’s Ark has built the world's largest community science resource to advance pet health research. With 75,000 pets now enrolled, the project uses data and DNA to investigate pet health, behavior and ancestry.
As CEO, Grunert will drive the organization's growth strategy, partnerships, and communications efforts, with an emphasis on expanding collaborations to enhance scientific impact and community engagement.
"I look forward to building upon Darwin’s Ark’s incredible foundation to reach more pet owners and accelerate the pace of our breakthroughs with our mission-driven board and team through innovation and partnership," said Grunert. "Through strategic innovation and new partnerships with researchers and industry leaders, we will expand our impact and continue to improve the lives of pets and their families."
Grunert brings more than 20 years of leadership experience in animal health, nonprofit management, marketing and community engagement. Her career has focused on building mission-driven organizations that advance animal health and scientific research.
Grunert's leadership journey includes her most recent role as a nonprofit consultant and interim co-CEO at Darwin's Ark, where she successfully navigated organizational strategy and community science engagement initiatives. She also serves on the board of ProPetDX, a veterinary diagnostics company, where she has been instrumental in advising fundraising and strategic initiatives.
From 2018 to 2023 Grunert led Morris Animal Foundation as its president and CEO after serving as the organization’s VP of marketing and brand strategy. During her tenure, she led an organizational transformation, increasing annual revenue by more than 80 percent, strengthening major research initiatives, and developing new partnerships that increased the impact of companion animal and wildlife health research. Before that, Grunert worked in numerous roles at Denver Zoo for 13 years including serving on the leadership team as the VP of marketing and external affairs.
Grunert's accolades include being recognized as a Titan 100 for industry leadership in 2021 and 2022, and receiving the Stevie Award for Female Executive of the Year (Silver 2021) and the Stevie Award for Achievement in Science, Leadership Team, and Covid Management Response (2021). Additionally, she was a top 10 finalist for CEO of the year for ColoradoBiz Magazine (2021). Under her leadership, Morris Animal Foundation was recognized as a top workplace by the Denver Business Journal and Nonprofit Times in 2020 and 2021. She has also received more than 50 branding, marketing and communications awards throughout her career.
Founded by scientists at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Darwin's Ark now includes more than 50,000 participating dogs and 25,000 participating cats. Together, the nonprofit's community scientists have contributed more than 6 million survey responses and 6,000 DNA sequences, creating a powerful resource for researchers studying the genetics of health, behavior and disease in pets with discoveries that have the potential to benefit both animals and people.
About Darwin's Ark
Darwin's Ark is a community science nonprofit that empowers pet owners to drive large-scale research on dog and cat genetics. By uniting pet lovers with leading scientists, Darwin's Ark explores the genetic foundations of health and behavior, helping to advance scientific discoveries that improve well-being for both pets and their people. Darwin's Cats, one of its flagship research initiatives, is the first pet science study to sequence DNA from fur. It's an easy method that is cat-friendly and will accelerate research to help cats live longer, healthier lives.
Learn more about Darwin's Ark.
About Tiffany:
Tiffany Grunert is an experienced board member and accomplished CEO with a history of leading organizations through crises to reach high performance through leadership, strategy, culture alignment, and stakeholder management for more than 20 years. Tiffany’s work has been filled with accolades including being named a Titan 100 CEO, Stevie Awards for Women in Business for Female Executive of the Year—Government or NonProfit, and Achievement in Science or Technology in 2021. Tiffany was recently named as one of 10 finalists for CEO of the Year for ColoradoBiz Magazine.
Tiffany has led P&L for the largest international animal health research funder with $18MM annual budget and $100MM investment pool as CEO. An accomplished turnaround expert, she increased earned revenue by 40% during the pandemic and successfully led international crisis response for several deaths, animal escapes, protests, zoonotic disease outbreaks, employee lawsuits, criminal and OSHA investigations resulting in continued successful revenue generation.
An award-winning and recognized subject matter expert in crisis management, media relations, branding and communications with an MBA certificate from London School of Economics, Tiffany is known for her courage and has successfully terminated difficult contracts and troubled partnerships. She is credited with saving a troubled $32MM longitudinal cancer research study by terminating difficult vendor and partner relationships, mitigating supplier threat and reducing annual expenses by $800,000 through the development and vertical integration of the call and fulfillment center
Tiffany has her board certification from Corporate Directors International LLC, USA. Her designation, CDI.D™, recognizes her as a qualified corporate board candidate for a public or private board.