Jill
Gottesman

Jill is the Southeastern States Director with The Wilderness Society. She works across the mountains of Georgia, North Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia to protect and connect wildlands, and ensure that all communities have equitable access to and are involved in the management of their public lands. Her work in the Southern Appalachian and larger Southeastern region focuses on engagement and network building, legislative campaigns, fundraising and lobbying, and collaboration around public lands planning. 

Before joining The Wilderness Society in 2010, she served as Outreach Director at Georgia ForestWatch. In 2016, Jill completed the Emerging Wildlife Conservation Leaders program, an international initiative that brings together professionals in the conservation field for capacity-building and campaign development skills training. Jill is passionate about the diverse landscapes and cultures around her home in Western North Carolina, which is on the Ancestral and present-day homelands of the Eastern Band of the Cherokee Indians. In her free time, she can be found growing and preserving food, playing music, studying native plants, and exploring the mountains with her family.  

Jill earned her Bachelor degree in Recreation & Wildlife Resource Management from the University of Georgia and her Master of Social Work degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and brings the skills of a work history in nonprofit management, social work, environmental education, and wilderness therapy to her role.