Elizabeth Osterman
Elizabeth Osterman first fell in love with Classical Pilates as a student on Gratz apparatus. A longtime Gratz customer before becoming co-owner, she was inspired by the company's commitment to craftsmanship, quality, and the community that has preserved the Classical Pilates method for generations. Today, she helps guide Gratz with a focus on strengthening the customer experience while honoring the company's heritage.
Elizabeth brings decades of leadership experience building organizations centered on quality, community, and long-term growth. Early in her career, she lived and worked in Japan and then took on increasingly senior roles in companies like Microsoft, LinkedIn, and then served as Chief People officer overseeing the people teams and other departments like real estate in multiple companies including Trulia and Unity Technologies. Becoming a Gratz owner gave her the opportunity to combine that experience with a lifelong passion for health and wellness.
Since acquiring Gratz in 2024 with John, Elizabeth has focused on strengthening the experience of customers around, worked to build up the companies custom manufacturing teams and processes (reducing lead times), while supporting the people who make Gratz what it is from the manufacturing team in Philadelphia to instructors and studio owners across the global Classical Pilates community.
"When I first started to work at Gratz, I loved engaging in the smallest details, doing everything from packing and labeling parts orders to sorting and customer orders. Working alongside our factory team is and was very rewarding for me.
One thing I did not expect when I first got directly involved in Gratz was how much I would learn to love and respect the Pilates teachers I would come to know. Their dedication to the method and to “teaching the body in front of them” almost takes my breath away. They are dedicated in such a strong way that those outside our world wouldn’t know or understand."
"I think most of our customers would be surprised to know that every morning at Gratz, five days per week, we have a stand-up meeting with our marketing, customer service, finance, manufacturing, operations and HR teams where we focus only on our customers, what they need, when they need it. It is refreshing and inspiring to me that our teams are so motivated by serving Gratz customers."