Greg Giornelli
Founder (retired)
East Lake Foundation
Greg Giornelli is recently retired after working for more than 30 years in city government, community development and education.
Greg was the founding executive director of the East Lake Foundation (1994-2001), the lead non-profit organization that developed and continues to implement a bold, innovative and successful model of community revitalization that helps families break the cycle of poverty. In this role, he oversaw the redevelopment of the East Lake Meadows public housing project into a revitalized mixed-income community. This successful transformation included Atlanta’s first charter school, a new YMCA, a child development center, the East Lake Junior Golf Academy and a number of health and wellness programs for neighborhood families.
From 2010 to 2016, Greg served as president of Purpose Built Communities, which assisted other communities around the country to implement the holistic East Lake model of neighborhood transformation. And from 2016 to 2023, Greg led Purpose Built Schools, a nonprofit that partnered with Atlanta Public Schools to help turn around public neighborhood schools in the Carver Cluster.
For eight years Greg also worked for the City of Atlanta in various capacities in the administrations of Mayor Shirley Franklin. He served as chief operating officer, president of the Atlanta Development Authority and chief policy officer.
Greg is also an attorney (a 1988 graduate of University of Georgia Law School) who has worked in private practice and as an assistant district attorney for DeKalb County.
Greg is married to Lillian Cousins Giornelli, and they have four children and three grandchildren.
