Senior Vice President / Chief Infrastructure & Development Officer
Jacksonville Transportation Authority
With over 30 years’ experience, Greer Johnson Gillis is an innovative transportation executive focused on organizational change through 21st century multi-modal initiatives. She has a stellar reputation for her work in delivering large-scale infrastructure projects, and advocating for women within the organizations she has led.
Mrs. Gillis currently serves as Senior Vice President / Chief Infrastructure & Development Officer for the Jacksonville Transportation Authority (JTA). As head of the Systems Development Division, Mrs. Gillis is responsible for all the strategic initiatives and the capital program which has direct impact on peoples’ mobility in the city. She’s in charge of implementing sustainability and resiliency best practices throughout the authority, delivering the capital infrastructure program to support services, and oversees the Authority’s initiatives in autonomous mobility and innovation. She’s also responsible for creating economic opportunity for small businesses throughout N.E. Florida.
Ms. Gillis has over 14 years of executive transportation experience in both the public and private sectors. She has served as Commissioner on the Public Service Commission of the District of Columbia (Washington, DC), Director of the DC Department of General Services and in several executive positions at the District Department of Transportation in Washington, DC. Her private industry experience culminated with her position as Area Manager for the Washington, DC office of Parsons Brinckerhoff, Inc. (now WSP), one of the nation’s top Engineering and Construction Management firms.
In 2014, Mrs. Gillis was honored by President Obama and U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx as a White House Champion of Change: Transportation Ladders of Opportunity for her efforts in expanding diversity in the engineering industry. In 2017, she was honored by the Conference of Minority Transportation Officials (COMTO) with the Celebrating Women Who Move the Nation Local Government Award. In 2022, Mrs. Gillis received the COMTO Thomas G. Newsom Founders’ Leadership Award, which is the highest award given by the organization. In 2008, she was appointed by the interim director of District (DC) Department of Transportation to serve as the city’s transportation lead for the 2009 presidential inauguration.
Mrs. Gillis is an active member of the Women’s Transportation Seminar NE Florida Chapter and COMTO Jacksonville Chapter. She served on the steering committee for Elevate Women NE Florida, is the co-chair for the City of Jacksonville’s Better Jacksonville Plan Finance and Project Administration Committees and is a member of the Jacksonville’s Women Network. She is a graduate of Leadership Jacksonville Class of 2022, and a graduate of the 2022 Eno Center for Transportation’s Senior Executive Program. She also serves on the Board of Trustees for the Cummer Museum of Art & Gardens.
Mrs. Gillis holds a Bachelor’s degree in Civil Engineering and a Master of Science degree in Civil Engineering with a concentration in Transportation, both from the Georgia Institute of Technology. She is a licensed Professional Engineer in Washington, DC and Virginia.