Jen Mergel

Jen Mergel (she/her) has been connecting people to public greenspace and urban squares for over 25 years as a nonprofit leader and contemporary art curator. As Director of Downtown Boston’s Esplanade Association (EA) since 2023, she’s steered the nonprofit toward major milestone’s in 2026: celebrating growth in EA’s 25th anniversary year from its all-volunteer origins, and guiding 20 staff to open and operate the forthcoming year-round indoor-outdoor welcome-center on the Esplanade for recreational, cultural, educational and social connection: the Smith Family Pavilion on the Charlesbank Campus.

From 2000-2017, in her curatorial roles at the Addison Gallery of American Art, the ICA Boston, and as Senior Curator and Chair of Contemporary Art at the Museum of Fine Arts Boston, she presented numerous public projects, for academic campus lawns and town libraries, to historic malls, building facades and urban parks. Subsequently, her work in partnership with the Emerald Necklace Conservancy has included organizing the city-wide exhibition, Fog x FLO: Fujiko Nakaya on the Emerald Necklace, and leading Boston’s 2022 Olmsted Bicentennial, Olmsted NOW.