Jody S. Gill

The Land and People Lab Advisory Committee Chair; Trust for Public Land National Board

Background and expertise: Jody Gill is a graduate of Northwestern University with a B.A. in economics. After graduation, she worked as a media planner at Benton & Bowles Advertising in New York City, and later as a security analyst at L. F. Rothschild. Following marriage and the arrival of three sons, the family moved to Boston where Jody attended Boston University Law School. Thereafter, she worked as an estate planner at Choate, Hall and Stewart, a prosecutor at the Middlesex County Court House in Cambridge, and as a sole practitioner, specializing in criminal defense and civil rights litigation. In 1998, she retired to sail across the Pacific with her husband.

Jody has served on many corporate and non-profit boards including Connecticut Bank & Trust Company, Nantucket Cottage Hospital, NAACP Legal Defense Fund, Boston, Milton Academy, Cambridge College, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston and the Esplanade Association. She currently chairs Trust for Public Land’s Massachusetts Advisory Board. Jody and her husband, Tom, are avid blue water sailors and hikers; they reside in Boston and West Palm Beach.

Why I believe in protecting land and creating parks: I believe that access to green space should be a fundamental right enjoyed by every single person in America.

Why I support Trust for Public Land: I support Trust for Public Land because of its commitment to bring Americans within a 10-minute walk of a climate savvy park. With social equity a core, driving principle, Trust for Public Land builds parks in underserved urban areas, making a daily difference in millions of lives.