Allison Peck Lankford

Allison Peck Lankford serves as Chief Executive Officer of the Gatton Park Conservancy, the nonprofit organization responsible for the strategy partnerships, stewardship, and long-term sustainability of Gatton Park in downtown Lexington, Kentucky. She was the founding Executive Director of the Gatton Park project and led the effort to transform an eleven-acre asphalt parking lot into Central Kentucky’s signature civic green space.

Under her leadership, the project raised more than $65 million in largely private support and guided the park through community engagement, design, construction, and opening. Gatton Park officially opened to the public on August 23, 2025.

Prior to her work with Gatton Park, Allison spent more than a decade with the Blue Grass Community Foundation, serving as Senior Vice President and General Counsel and leading the organization’s advancement efforts during a period when the foundation’s assets grew by more than 400 percent. Earlier in her career, she practiced law at McBrayer, McGinnis, Leslie & Kirkland in Lexington and Wyatt, Tarrant & Combs in Louisville.

A graduate of Furman University with degrees in Sociology and Political Science, Allison received her law degree from the University of Kentucky College of Law.