Gaye Symington is a former political leader, nonprofit executive, and president of the High Meadows Fund, a philanthropic fund associated with the Vermont Community Foundation, which she led from 2009 until her retirement in 2022. The fund promoted vibrant communities and economic enterprise and a healthy natural environment.

Gaye represented Jericho, Underhill, and Bolton in the Vermont House from 1997 to 2009, including one term as Minority Leader and two as Speaker of the House — becoming the second woman to lead the chamber. She won the Democratic nomination for governor in 2008.

Gaye has a B.A. from Williams College with a concentration in environmental studies and an MBA from Cornell University. She lives in Jericho with her husband, Chuck Lacy, and two cats, Earl and Sheila. They heat their old farmhouse without an oil boiler, thanks to mountains of insulation and caulk, a couple of heat pumps, and three or four pallets of Northern Forest wood pellets each winter.

Gaye also serves on the board of trustees of the Vermont Journalism Trust, a nonprofit digital news organization that, through VTDigger, publishes daily news stories and investigative reports connecting and informing Vermonters.