Gayle Nelson, Esq.

Gayle Nelson is an attorney, development consultant, executive coach and mentor serving the nonprofit community for over fifteen years. She is dedicated to working with her clients to achieve mission driven sustainable growth. With her help, non profits build multiple sources of revenue including major, corporate, planned, and special events as well as comprehensive program and agency budgets. Her focus is on expanding volunteer involvement and identifying diverse lay leadership opportunities. Gayle utilizes her training as an advocate to teach her clients how to engage government leaders and develop strong internal and external communications plans increasing the public's understanding of the needs of low income communities. Throughout her career, she has served as Executive Director, Arbitrator, and Development Director.

In September of 2013, Gayle was appointed to the State of Illinois' Commission to Eliminate Poverty. She is also a board member of The Harbour a non profit providing emergency shelter, transitional housing, and case management to homeless, locked-out, and runaway youth in the north and northwest suburbs of Chicago. In the past, she served as board member and co-chair of the Technical Assistance Committee of Chicago Women in Philanthropy. In this capacity, she led a vibrant committee creating training opportunities for non profit executives, consultants, and volunteers.

Gayle is a graduate of DePaul University, College of Law and the University of Wisconsin, Madison.