Georgia Gempler

Biography: Georgia is Senior Program Specialist, Health & Wellness with the National League of Cities, an organization comprised of city, town and village leaders that are focused on improving the quality of life for their current and future constituents. At NLC, she works to help cities develop policies and projects that address public health, community and economic development, and cross-sector collaboration through investments in the arts. Prior to NLC, Georgia was a Senior Associate of Advisory Services at the Urban Land Institute (ULI). The mission of ULI is to provide leadership in the responsible use of land and in creating and sustaining thriving communities worldwide. Since 1947, ULI has been conducting panels that provide strategic advice to communities and organizations on real estate, planning, urban design and public policy subjects. Georgia is from Yakima, Washington, and before joining ULI worked for an agriculture trade association coordinating trainings and researching training law and food safety law for agricultural workers. In 2018, she was a Fulbright Scholar in northeastern Brazil. Georgia has also worked at several adult basic education and community-building nonprofits in the Twin Cities, and as an immigration paralegal. Georgia earned her B.A. in Latin American Studies from Macalester College in St. Paul, MN, specializing in Geography and Portuguese. At Macalester, she completed a thesis on community identity and informal space in Latin American cities, and focused on urban geography while studying abroad in Brazil. Georgia is passionate about community building, storytelling, placemaking, equitable development, and improving the nonprofit sector.