Katherine Grabar, Ph.D.
Insight That Creates Change
Change Management Consulting | Enneagram | Spiritual Direction
My work has taken me through some seemingly different worlds—from scientific research to organizational consulting, the Enneagram, and Spiritual Direction.
But the thread connecting them has remained remarkably consistent...a desire to understand what is really happening beneath the surface and to to use insight to create clear paths forward for people and organizations.
I began my career as a research chemist. Science trained me to observe carefully, ask good questions, look for patterns, and resist easy answers. Over time, I found myself increasingly drawn to another kind of complexity: people and organizations.
That led me into management consulting, where for more than two decades I have helped organizations navigate significant change and transformation. My work has ranged from large-scale initiatives with Fortune 500 organizations to focused work with leaders and teams.
Patterns, Formation, and Growth
I first encountered the Enneagram in 1998 through Don Riso and Russ Hudson, discovering a powerful framework for recognizing patterns and developing greater freedom. That initial discovery grew into decades of study, teaching, and coaching, including ongoing work with Russ Hudson and IEQ9 certification through Integrative Enneagram.
Alongside my professional life has been my ministry involvement. I have taught and facilitated spiritual formation and discipleship programs, provided pastoral care, led prayer and retreat experiences, and helped form lay chaplains through Community of Hope. Becoming a Spiritual Director through Selah deepened and formalized a ministry of spiritual companionship that had grown through those experiences.
At the heart of my work is a calling to help individuals and groups grow—to see something they hadn't seen before, deepen their understanding, and translate insight into meaningful change.
Today, my work spans several settings because people grow in several dimensions.
Whether through organizational change, the Enneagram, Spiritual Direction, or teaching and facilitation, the setting changes—but the underlying work is remarkably similar: seeing more clearly so that meaningful change becomes possible.
Different Settings. A Common Purpose.
A Little More About Me.
I hold a Ph.D. in Analytical Chemistry from Penn State. After nearly a decade working as a research chemist, my career shifted toward the work that now encompasses organizational consulting, teaching and facilitation, the Enneagram, spiritual formation, and ministry.
But work isn't everything. I love time with family and my cat, being somewhere quiet in nature—especially near woods or water—and surrounding myself with beauty, especially art that touches something in me. I enjoy reading, learning, and exploring genealogy and family stories. I'm also cautiously rediscovering two things that once came much more easily—playing the piano and speaking French.
Underlying both my work and my interests is a persistent curiosity—about people, ideas, faith, what helps us change, and what allows us to become more fully who we were created to be.
