Lisa Ott

Lisa Ott

2024 Achievement Medal

For her dedication to the environment and for personifying the GCA’s values and the power of association. Lisa Ott has dedicated herself personally and professionally to the environment devoting herself to protecting our land and water and educating others to do so as well. 

A passionate, dedicated, and connected environmentalist, Lisa W. Ott has dedicated herself to protecting our land and water and inspiring others to do so as well.

Lisa helped found the North Shore Land Alliance twenty years ago and has since served as the organization’s only president and CEO. Since its founding, the 4,400-member organization has grown to a staff of 12 and 225 volunteers. Under her leadership, the organization has protected more than 1,300 acres of land and operates 14 public nature preserves. Her efforts have provided residents of all ages and diverse backgrounds with the opportunity to connect with nature and learn how they can help protect our land, air, and water.

Lisa is equally passionate about conservation and conservation education within the GCA. She served as her club’s Conservation and NAL chair and in leadership positions on the GCA’s Conservation Committee before chairing the National Affairs & Legislation Committee. She helped pass The Great American Outdoors Act, arguably the most important conservation legislation in 50 years. She wrote the “Call to Action,” which rallied club members to advocate for the act that reinvests in national parks, funds water and land conservation, and provides new parks and trails.

Lisa W. Ott embodies the best of the GCA and serves as a visionary role model for us all.

The Achievement Medal is awarded in recognition of outstanding achievement and in tribute to creative vision and ability in the interpretation and furtherance of the aims of The Garden Club of America.

The medal was designed in 1932 by Paul Manship and presented by Mrs. Henry Osborn Taylor, Middletown Garden Club, Connecticut. It was endowed in 1963 by a member of the Garden Club of Somerset Hills, New Jersey. Other winners include Eloise Payne Luquer (1939), Mrs. Francis B. Crowninshield (1950), Corliss Knapp Engle (2005), and Christine D. Freitag (2007).

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