Jill Tolles

Executive Director

Jill Tolles is the Executive Director of the Kenny Guinn Center for Policy Priorities. She has taught at the University of Nevada since 2005, where she received her Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Communication Studies. She is also on the faculty of the National Judicial College, where she teaches courtroom management, collaborative decision-making, and procedural fairness to judges from around the nation and the world.

Prior to joining the Guinn Center, Jill served three terms in the Nevada Legislature as the Assemblywoman for District 25, where she has served on the Education, Judiciary, Commerce and Labor, and Ways and Means Committees. Additionally, she served in two special sessions and three interims on the Interim Finance Committee, Legislative Committee on Education, Legislative Committee on Energy, Commission on Special License Plates, and the Nevada Sentencing Commission.

Jill has given back to the community by serving on numerous boards and commissions over the years. She serves on the Advisory Board for the Center for Effective Lawmaking, currently Chairs the Northern Nevada Sex Trafficking Task Force, and completed her terms as Vice Chair of the Attorney General’s Statewide Substance Use Response Working Group and as a member of the Education Alliance Board. She has been recognized as a PBS Spotlight Award recipient, a Junior Achievement Hall of Fame honoree, an Aspen Institute Rodel Fellow, an FBI Citizens’ Academy graduate, and a member of the International Women’s Forum.