Our Founding Team
Mine The Gap co-founders Jessica N. Grounds and Kristin Haffert have dedicated their lives to advancing women leaders throughout the world. They each embody nearly two decades of experience working in politics, business, and the non-profit sectors. Through their vast backgrounds, they see the significant and transformative power of gender-aware and diverse workforces and leadership structures. Using their knowledge and expertise, they are helping companies, organizations and governments run more efficiently.
Jessica N. Grounds | Co-Founder
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In 2016, Jessica N. Grounds co-founded Mine The Gap, which partners with companies, organizations, and government agencies to create more effective and inclusive workplaces. She co-authored reports about the impact of SB 826, the first-in-the-nation legislation to require women board directors on publicly held companies headquartered in California and served as an expert witness on related court cases challenging the diversity laws passed by the state legislature.
Jessica started her career as a campaign consultant and campaign staffer, working on political campaigns throughout the United States. Jessica speaks regularly about the importance of advancing diversity in leadership. She is a deep expert in gender equity and the challenges particularly faced by women in political leadership and the workplace. She has trained leaders from every region of the globe, including work within Africa, Central Asia, the Middle East, East Asia, and across Europe.
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Jessica is an internationally recognized leadership expert and a visionary executive who has spurred movements of change across business and politics by developing the next generation of leaders. Over her two-decade career, she has advised Fortune 500 executives, trained political candidates and governments worldwide, and conducted original research on leadership, all through the lens of diversity as a proven strategy for innovation and impact.
Jessica is the CEO of Corporate Directors Forum (CDF), which fosters modern leaders at the top of organizations. CDF has led educational programming and networking for corporate board members and executives for the past three decades. Jessica also serves on Nasdaq’s Center for Board Excellence Insights Council and previously served on UN Women’s We Empower G7 Programme. She continues to serve on the board of Running Start, an organization she co-founded in 2007 to inspire young women to run for elected office. To date, Running Start has trained over 25,000 girls and young women.
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Jessica and her work have been profiled in Bloomberg, Fast Company, Roll Call, The Hill, NPR, ELLE, National Journal, Washington Post, San Diego Union Tribune, Politico, Marie Claire, and Forbes. She’s received awards including The New Guard: America’s 50 Most Influential Women by Marie Claire magazine, “40 Under 40” recipient by the American Association of Political Consultants,
Outstanding Alumni Pepperdine University, and the 2022 Magis Award from Georgetown Business School. After nearly 17 years leading her work from Washington, DC, Jessica returned to her hometown, San Diego, in 2019 with her husband Wes McClelland and (now) two kids, MJ and Kimball.
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Jessica N. Grounds is an internationally recognized leadership expert and a visionary executive who has spurred movements of change across business and politics by developing the next generation of leaders. Over her two-decade career, she has advised Fortune 500 executives, trained political candidates and governments worldwide, and conducted original research on leadership, all through the lens of diversity as a proven strategy for innovation and impact.
Jessica is the CEO of Corporate Directors Forum (CDF), which fosters modern leaders at the top of organizations. CDF has led educational programming and networking for corporate board members and executives for the past three decades. Jessica also serves on Nasdaq’s Center for Board Excellence Insights Council and previously served on UN Women’s We Empower G7 Programme. She continues to serve on the board of Running Start, an organization she co-founded in 2007 to inspire young women to run for elected office. To date, Running Start has trained over 25,000 girls and young women.
In 2016, Jessica co-founded Mine The Gap, which partners with companies, organizations, and government agencies to create more effective and inclusive workplaces. She co-authored reports about the impact of SB 826, the first-in-the-nation legislation to require women board directors on publicly held companies headquartered in California and served as an expert witness on related court cases challenging the diversity laws passed by the state legislature.
Jessica started her career as a campaign consultant and campaign staffer, working on political campaigns throughout the United States. Jessica speaks regularly about the importance of advancing diversity in leadership. She is a deep expert in gender equity and the challenges particularly faced by women in political leadership and the workplace. She has trained leaders from every region of the globe, including work within Africa, Central Asia, the Middle East, East Asia, and across Europe.
Jessica and her work have been profiled in Bloomberg, Fast Company, Roll Call, The Hill, NPR, ELLE, National Journal, Washington Post, San Diego Union Tribune, Politico, Marie Claire, and Forbes. She’s received awards including The New Guard: America’s 50 Most Influential Women by Marie Claire magazine, “40 Under 40” recipient by the American Association of Political Consultants, Outstanding Alumni Pepperdine University, and the 2022 Magis Award from Georgetown Business School. After nearly 17 years leading her work from Washington, DC, Jessica returned to her hometown, San Diego, in 2019 with her husband Wes McClelland and (now) two kids, MJ and Kimball.
Kristin Haffert | Co-Founder
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As Co-Founder at Mine The Gap and as CEO of Haffert Group, she has consulted Fortune 500 companies, governments, UN agencies, global financial institutions and leading philanthropies and non-profits on diversity, equity and inclusion. She has also spearheaded global gender-related initiatives such as the Madeleine K. Albright Grant, Win with Women and iKNOW Politics.
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Kristin Haffert is an expert in women’s leadership and initiatives to advance gender equality. She began her career supporting businesses and public-sector clients with grassroots strategies to integrate social justice objectives. For more than two decades, she has conducted research, developed and delivered programs and practical training tools in more than 100 countries in every region of the world.
As a thought leader and speaker on gender and inclusion, she has guided and piloted complex scenarios related to gender and equity – from global corporations to peace negotiations.
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Kristin’s award-winning work on gender equality, her business acumen and vast global network allows her clients to align their company’s ethos with strategies to grow productivity, including an inclusive workforce. Prior to working in the private sector, she served in senior management and initiated the women and gender equality team at the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs (NDI) which she built from 2002-2009. She has advised international leaders on promoting women in political and civic life in Latin America and the Caribbean, Africa, Asia, Central and Eastern Europe and North America.
Kristin holds a Master’s Degree in Leadership from the McDonough School of Business at Georgetown University and a Bachelor’s Degree from Douglass College, Rutgers University. She provided guidance on educating women about their expanded constitutional rights in post-Apartheid South Africa and has received awards from the Center for American Women in Politics (CAWP) at the Eagleton Institute for Politics and the Public Leadership Education Network (PLEN) for her dedication to women’s leadership.
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Kristin Haffert is an expert in women’s leadership and initiatives to advance gender equality. She began her career supporting businesses and public-sector clients with grassroots strategies to integrate social justice objectives. For more than two decades, she has conducted research, developed and delivered programs and practical training tools in more than 100 countries in every region of the world.
Kristin’s award-winning work on gender equality, her business acumen and vast global network allows her clients to align their company’s ethos with strategies to grow productivity, including an inclusive workforce. Prior to working in the private sector, she served in senior management and initiated the women and gender equality team at the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs (NDI) which she built from 2002-2009. She has advised international leaders on promoting women in political and civic life in Latin America and the Caribbean, Africa, Asia, Central and Eastern Europe and North America.
As a thought leader and speaker on gender and inclusion, she has guided and piloted complex scenarios related to gender and equity – from global corporations to peace negotiations. As Co-Founder at Mine The Gap and as CEO of Haffert Group, she has consulted Fortune 500 companies, governments, UN agencies, global financial institutions and leading philanthropies and non-profits on diversity, equity and inclusion. She has also spearheaded global gender-related initiatives such as the Madeleine K. Albright Grant, Win with Women and iKNOW Politics.
Kristin holds a Master’s Degree in Leadership from the McDonough School of Business at Georgetown University and a Bachelor’s Degree from Douglass College, Rutgers University. She provided guidance on educating women about their expanded constitutional rights in post-Apartheid South Africa and has received awards from the Center for American Women in Politics (CAWP) at the Eagleton Institute for Politics and the Public Leadership Education Network (PLEN) for her dedication to women’s leadership.