Michelle L. Cramer, CFRE, Advanced CGRMS
Founder, The Compassionate Workplace Initiative
Founder & Executive Director, On Angels’ Wings
Michelle Cramer is a nonprofit executive, grief educator, and Advanced Certified Grief Recovery Method Specialist with more than twenty years of experience supporting families through loss and critical life events. She is the Founder of The Compassionate Workplace Initiative, where she provides trauma-informed training and practical guidance to HR professionals and organizational leaders navigating employee grief, workplace critical incidents, and complex emotional situations.
Michelle is also the Founder and Executive Director of On Angels’ Wings, a multi-state nonprofit that provides therapeutic photography and long-term grief recovery services for families facing infant and child loss or caring for a medically fragile child. Under her leadership, the organization has grown to provide services in seven states with more than 135 volunteers, supporting over 2,500 families nationwide.
A published author and sought-after speaker, Michelle wrote Unshattered Grief: Helping Others Through Loss Without Breaking Them… Again, a guide that has become a foundation for her work in trauma-informed communication (and is currently writing the business-minded version). She has delivered grief education workshops for HR associations, clinical teams, educators, and corporate audiences, and she actively advocates for statewide bereavement leave legislation in Missouri.
Drawing on her deep experience in grief recovery, trauma-informed practices, leadership development, and communication, Michelle equips workplace leaders with the tools and confidence needed to support employees with empathy while maintaining organizational stability. Her work emphasizes that compassionate response is not only humane—it strengthens trust, retention, and long-term workforce well-being.
Michelle lives in Springfield, Missouri, with her husband and two teenage sons, where they enjoy a lively home filled with pets, classic rock, and shared family adventures.