2023 Liff Spirit Awardee

Gina McCarthy

Former White House National Climate Advisor and former U.S. EPA Administrator

A career public servant in both Democratic and Republican administrations, McCarthy has been a leading advocate for common sense strategies to protect public health and the environment for more than 30 years. Gina McCarthy’s leadership led to the most aggressive action on climate change in U.S. history, creating new jobs and unprecedented clean energy innovation and investments across the country.

Her commitment to bold action across the Biden administration, supported by the climate and clean energy provisions in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and the Inflation Reduction Act, restored U.S. climate leadership on a global stage and put a new U.S. national target to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 50–52 percent below 2005 levels by 2030 within reach.

Previously, she was President and CEO of the Natural Resources Defence Council, Professor of the Practice of Public Health in the Department of Environmental Health at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Commissioner of the Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection and an advisor to five Massachusetts governors. McCarthy was born in Brighton and was raised in Canton and Dorchester, with degrees from UMASS Boston and Tufts University. She currently resides in Jamaica Plain.

Liff Spirit Award

The Liff Spirit Award, named for Justine Mee Liff, Boston’s Commissioner of Parks and Recreation from 1996 to 2002, honors the vision, wisdom, humanity and joy that Justine brought to her work as a champion of the open, green spaces that are so vital to our daily life. It is presented annually at the Emerald Necklace Conservancy’s Party in the Park to an individual or individuals whose leadership, commitment to cities, passion for public places, dedication to the democratic ideals fostered in urban parks, and ability to inspire public servants and private citizens to join together in common cause best reflects Justine’s spirit and legacy.

Past Recipients

2022
Kathy Abbott
President and CEO, Boston Harbor Now

2019
Kathryn Ott Lovell
Commissioner, Philadelphia Parks and Recreation

2018
Kelsey Wirth
Founder, Mothers Out Front

2017
Whitney Hatch
Chairman, DCR Stewardship Council

2016
Ropes & Gray
Celebrating 150 Year Anniversary

2015
Mark Volpe
Managing Director, Boston Symphony Orchestra

2014
Elizabeth Barlow Rogers
Founder, Central Park Conservancy

2013
Thomas M. and Angela Menino
Mayor and First Lady, City of Boston

2012
Malcolm Rogers
Ann and Graham Gund Director,
Museum of Fine Arts Boston

2011
Valerie Burns
President, Boston Natural Areas Network

2010
Charles Ansbacher
Conductor and Founder,
Boston Landmark Orchestra

2009
Michael and Kitty Dukakis
Former Governor and First Lady,
Commonwealth of Massachusetts

2008
Joan and Ted Cutler
Philanthropists

2007
Agnes “Diddy” Cullinane
Founder, Black and White Boston

2006
Henry Lee
Founder, Friends of the Public Garden

2005
Eugenie Beal
Founding Chair, Boston Conservation Commission
Founding Member, Emerald Necklace Conservancy

Norman Leventhal
Founder, The Beacon Companies