Gail Carmody is originally from the Midwest and is now rooted in Florida. Her love for exploring the forests in Indiana led to numerous youth camp positions, a degree from Purdue University, and a career in the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. She retired from the U.S. FWS in 2010 after 19 years as the Project Leader of the Panama City Field Office working to conserve one of the nation’s hotspots of biological diversity.  Gail led both the Ecological Services and Fisheries Resources programs. Before the move south, she was the coordinator for the Upper Mississippi River Conservation Committee, an association of the State conservation agencies in Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Iowa, and Missouri.  She started her Service career in 1978 in the Rock Island Field Office as a 404 biologist and quickly became involved in regional and national landscape conservation strategies and issues that also involved the conservation and management of a number of National Wildlife Refuges.

Gail is Chair of the Board of the Student Conservation Association, Secretary of the Board of the National Wildlife Refuge Association, and sits on the Board of the Fish and Wildlife Service Retirees Association. . Gail is a member of several Refuge friends groups and is involved in the Retirees support of Friends groups thru mini-grants for anniversary celebrations, station projects, and youth activities.  She volunteers locally for the Emerald Coast Regional Envirothon, the Natural Resources Diversity Initiative at the University of Florida, and with developing EcoGulf with the Florida State University STEM Institute, but some of the best days in retirement opportunities to spend a day in the field helping fish and wildlife biologists.