Jackie is an avid gardener whose passion emerged when she tended to the fruits and vegetables of her father’s gardens in the hot summers of Atlanta where she grew up. She has carried this love of growing things to the cooler temperatures of brownstone Brooklyn and the bucolic Berkshires, where sharing garden tips and stories is a way of life. Jackie loves to travel, photographing many of the Earth’s most beautiful natural and built environments, including the cherry blossoms of Japan, the stone terraces of Machu Picchu and World Heritage sites including Cambodia’s Angkor Wat and Ephesus, Turkey.

Jackie retired from the New York City Planning Department as the Deputy Executive Director of Land Use, Technical and Environment Review, after over 35 years in public service. During her tenure, she worked in several borough offices and technical divisions, including parks and open space, developing a broad interdisciplinary planning approach and zoning knowledge of neighborhoods citywide. As a member of the senior executive team, and in collaboration with the Chair(s) of the Planning Commission, she managed all Commission meetings and would frequently represent the Department at  public forums, encouraging and educating neighborhood constituents about their roles and responsibilities in land use decision making.

Jackie served as a Board member of the Magnolia Tree Earth Center in Bedford-Stuyvesant Brooklyn, dedicated to protecting a historic magnolia tree, the only living tree designated as such in New York City. She was appointed as a Loeb Fellow in Advanced Environmental Studies at Harvard’s Graduate School of Design and earned her master’s degree in public administration from Baruch College (CUNY) after receiving an undergraduate degree in Political Science from Vassar College.  Jackie loves to read historical biographies, where she is encouraged by human resilience in the face of obstacles. She spends her time with her partner between New York City and Stockbridge.