Jill Garling ’84 MBA, ’04 MS has dedicated her career to nonprofit work. Drawing on her MBA in marketing and a Northwestern master’s degree in marital and family therapy, she blends an understanding of interpersonal behavior with a strong set of business skills. She hopes that her work can help kids across Chicago and beyond access opportunities and feel better connected to their city and to the world.
“The world is so incredibly polarized that if we don’t help students approach their lives with a sense of intellectual rigor, emotional connection and moral reasoning, then we are at risk of creating citizens who have no sense of civic responsibility,” says Garling. “Helping students connect lessons from history to the choices they make in their day-to-day lives couldn’t be more important.”
She is chair of the board of directors of Facing History & Ourselves, which provides professional development and classroom resources to help kids connect modern-day issues to history, expanding their civic engagement and awareness. She also volunteers with The Joffrey Ballet, supporting cultural programming and community engagement programs with Chicago youth. At the Chicago Public Education Fund, she chairs the governance, operations, finance and audit committee and serves on the executive committee. Garling has worked with all of these organizations for more than a decade.
“Jill has that inclusive and deliberate style of leadership that helps people feel that their opinion is welcome and their voices are heard,” says Heather Anichini, CEO of the Chicago Public Education Fund, which provides principals in Chicago Public Schools and charter schools with professional development, planning support and more. “Whether I’m bringing her a challenge or someone on my team is, she understands our mission in a way that is deep and real.”
“My role is to unleash that expertise, help raise funds and ask tough questions that will enable an organization to excel at achieving its mission.”
Her daughter Hannah Wilson ’19 MBA remembers how her mom always fostered conversations about important topics at home, too. “Growing up, we spent a lot of time at the family dinner table discussing issues that we cared about,” Wilson says. “And she makes every person who she interacts with feel heard and seen on a very personal level.” That energy powers Garling’s desire to give students access to improved opportunities and outcomes.
Garling approaches her work by listening to the people within the organizations who have been doing this work for the long haul. “I believe that they know their business,” she says. “My role is to unleash that expertise, help raise funds and ask tough questions that will enable an organization to excel at achieving its mission.”
Kellogg remains close to Garling’s heart. And it runs in her family — her husband, Allstate CEO Thomas Wilson ’80 MBA, and her daughter Hannah both graduated from the school.
“Kellogg culturally really fit with my family values — empathetic leadership, data-driven decision-making and challenging the status quo,” says Hannah.
Three of Jill’s lifelong friends from Kellogg recently attended Hannah’s wedding. And the Golub Capital Board Fellows Program at Kellogg has partnered many times with her organizations, including the Chicago Public Education Fund and The Joffrey Ballet. She has been impressed by the program’s work.
She appreciates how Kellogg alumni share a sense of commitment to the work they do. “We come to the work with empathy, we come to the work with curiosity and we’re dependable,” she says. She continues to use the skills she developed 40 years ago at Kellogg, and she feels a sense of rich pride to be part of the school’s network. “Being part of a group like this, being an alum from Kellogg, we lift each other up.”