Gil Gillenwater

Gil Gillenwater is a lifelong Arizona resident. He attended University on football scholarships and graduated from Arizona State University. Gil built a very successful real estate career in the valley. He did this while simultaneously building Rancho Feliz. Gil is a black belt in Kenpo Karate, a certified Hot Yoga instructor and a certified Meditation practitioner. Gil organizes and participates in Rancho Feliz’s grueling, multi-day, extreme sport/extreme karma, fund raising events. Gil is a recipient of the Hon Kachina Award, Arizona’s highest honor for volunteerism, in addition to being one of five members throughout the United States chosen to receive the National Association of Realtors annual “Good Neighbor Award,” likewise honoring volunteerism. He has traveled extensively throughout the world visiting over 50 countries. As a student of Eastern thought, he has concentrated his travels in the Himalayan “Hidden Lands” of Tibet. In 1997 Gil and his brother discovered the long-sought “Hidden Falls of the Brahmaputra River.” You can find out more information about Gil’s Tibet travels here. In 2007, Gil traveled to India with the Free the Slaves organization. While visiting Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, he developed the “Free a Village” program. The program caught on and in 2009 former President Bill Clinton selected “Free a Village” as one of the key projects to highlight during his annual Clinton Global Initiative gathering of the world’s top thinkers, donors and activists. Gil’s program and funding meant freedom for an entire village of 20 families who were bonded in slavery for generations in farms and carpet looms. Since its inception, several other donors have joined the “Free a Village” program, freeing their own villages. This includes Rancho Feliz’s volunteer Director of Education, Jim Armstrong.