Tom Gill (LC 2021, CEF 2010, CLI 2009)
President, Urban Community School
Tom Gill is President of Urban Community School (UCS), a PK-8 school with an early education center on Cleveland’s near west side. In this role, Tom leads across an unusually wide portfolio for a school leader: institutional strategy, fundraising and donor relations, real estate and facilities development, school programming, financial planning, government relations, and external partnerships. His leadership style reflects a conviction that a school cannot simply run its academic program well — it must build the surrounding infrastructure in childcare, healthcare, and out-of-school time opportunities in the arts and athletics. Gill and his team remain focused on better aligning UCS with the lives and families of today’s modern, working families.
Under Gill’s leadership, UCS has pursued an ambitious, deliberate strategy to bring partners to the UCS campus. At nearly 15 acres, the campus now includes MetroHealth’s Ohio City Health Center and the local headquarters for Urban Squash Cleveland, Facing History & Ourselves, Re:Source Cleveland, House of Champions, and the Greater Cleveland Sports Hall of Fame. Dozens of other partners support programming on campus as well to support the school’s mission and children and families from across Cleveland. Today, UCS serves 800 children.
On the philanthropic side, Tom leads UCS’s donor cultivation and stewardship strategy, managing relationships with major donors and foundations and overseeing funds that provide direct support to UCS.
Tom has served on several local non-profit boards including Neighborhood Family Practice, Re:Source Cleveland, and Greater Cleveland Foodbank Partnership and Services Committee. Near West Theater is also a beloved institution for he and his family.
Gill lives with his wife, Erika, and two sons, Andrew (10) and Patrick (8) in Ohio City. He earned a BA from Saint Louis University (2005) and an MPP from the Harvard Kennedy School (2009). His beliefs and values were largely formed during his time in El Salvador from 2005-2007.