Meet The New Steward Of Glen Lake

Seven years ago, Kate Gille came to northern Michigan for a season as a Sleeping Bear Dunes park ranger. She only got five months in Leelanau County, but it made a big impression – so big that Gille has spent years looking for a way to make northern Michigan her permanent home. This week, that dream came true, as the Glen Lake Association (GLA) announced Gille as its first-ever executive director.

In November, the Leelanau Ticker broke the news that GLA was seeking a full-time leader to help navigate mounting challenges around heavy lake traffic, invasive species, and local outreach/education. The news marked quite the pivot for the nonprofit, which was founded all the way back in 1945 and had never hired an executive director. For decades, GLA has relied predominantly upon volunteers to drive its mission, of “preserving and protecting the water quality, natural resources, and quality of life in the Glen Lake/Crystal River Watershed.”

For Gille, GLA’s pivot came at the perfect time.

A graduate of Michigan State University with a bachelor’s degree in sustainable parks, recreation, and tourism, Gille has been smitten with Leelanau County since 2018, when she spent her first post-college summer working at Sleeping Bear Dunes.

“I lived in those bunkhouses right on M-22 in Empire, and I was stationed out at the Dune Climb, right across the street from Glen Lake,” Gille recalls. “I just fell in love with the area. Because how could you not?”

Despite her love for northern Michigan, Gille’s path soon led elsewhere. She took her first full-time job with the City of Cincinnati, Ohio, working for the parks department. That job led to a four-year engagement with the Cincinnati Parks Foundation, a nonprofit that has raised over $100 million for the city’s parks system since 1995.

“And then, from there, I pursued some other growth opportunities working for a statewide nonprofit, as a leader of their marketing/communications team,” Gille tells the Leelanau Ticker. “But to be honest with you, that job wasn't environmentally-focused, and pretty much immediately, I just felt this feeling inside me that I missed working on environmental, outdoors, and parks and recreation projects. That really kick-started my search to get back into this industry.”

While searching for jobs, Gille stumbled upon Michigan’s Creative Coast, the name for Traverse Connect’s locally-focused job board. She also found Traverse Connect’s Northern Explorers program, an initiative where, once per year, Traverse Connect invites 10 individuals from outside the Grand Traverse Region to attend local events, network with industry leaders, meet northern Michigan residents, and learn about the regional business scene. The idea is to identify professionals thinking about relocating to northern Michigan and help them find their footing here.

“I threw my hat in the ring, because it seemed like such a good opportunity to start networking,” Gille says of Northern Explorers. “I was accepted, and pretty immediately, I started growing my network – not just with the Traverse Connect folks, but with local business owners, nonprofit leaders, and all these people who wanted to help me succeed. I had all these people putting their feelers out and sending me opportunities. Not every lead was applicable, but it was really nice to have a group of local people helping me on my search.”

When the GLA job came up, someone from Traverse Connect sent Gille's way, encouraging her to apply. Fast-forward to now, and she’s two weeks into the new job.

In a press release announcing Gille’s hiring, GLA Board President Stan Kryer said the organization’s board “unanimously selected” Kate after a “rigorous process to find a superb candidate.” Kryer praised Gille’s “combination of environmental advocacy, strategic communications, and nonprofit management experience,” and said her skillset would “be instrumental as we continue to fulfill our mission amidst the increasing challenges facing the watershed.”

Gille acknowledges that she’s coming aboard at a challenging time for Glen Lake. GLA reported last September that it had identified an established colony of the invasive aquatic plant Eurasian Watermilfoil (EWM) in Little Glen Lake. That news came after extensive searches for EWM earlier in the year had seemed to give the all-clear. EWM is a problem because it spreads so rapidly, choking out native species in a way that can quickly transform the entire character and ecology of a lake.

Though Gille hasn’t specifically battled EWM before, she’s confident in her ability to lead the GLA in mounting a rigorous response against the plant.

“Down in Cincinnati, they have an invasive species called honeysuckle, these big bushy plants that can completely choke out a forest,” she says. “If you go for a hike down there, it’s not like it is in beautiful northern Michigan. You’re kind of crawling through a bramble, because honeysuckle is this really aggressive plant that just spreads so fast, similar to EWM. It’s really hard to manage, and a big piece of the work that I did with the Parks Foundation was working alongside park staff to develop volunteer programs to remove it, as well as fundraising and grants for removal and prevention. Removing invasives was such a big part of my life, and that work is totally applicable to EWM.”