Amy Berg

In this episode of Unreasonable, Josh Martino sits down with Amy Berg, whose career has been defined by a deep commitment to collaboration, storytelling, and values-based leadership. From her early days in Southern California, where environmental challenges shaped her interest in urban planning, to leadership roles in Santa Barbara and Aspen, Berg reflects on how her experiences guided her toward building communities that balance growth, quality of life, and shared purpose, and how her work with the Aspen Institute reinforced her belief in the power of dialogue to bridge divides and solve complex problems. She also shares her leadership at the Better Angels Society, where she helped elevate documentary storytelling as a powerful tool for understanding American history and connecting people through shared narratives, as well as her and her husband's current work in Jacksonville supporting the Mayo Clinic’s Innovation Exchange—an effort to help ideas, from frontline healthcare insights to global collaborations, grow into impactful solutions. Across every chapter of her journey, Berg returns to a defining belief: meaningful progress requires courage, curiosity, and a willingness to engage with others, and that being “unreasonable” is ultimately about having the conviction to speak truth, take risks, and bring people together to create lasting change.

Full video on YouTube.com/@UnreasonableJacksonville

Host: Josh Martino

Video and Audio Production: Nimble Creative Services

Artwork: Basis

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:22

Welcome to Unreasonable, put on by the Jacksonville Civic Council. Interesting interviews from Jacksonville's most iconic entrepreneurs, CEOs, and wonderful success stories. They do things that are unexpected unreasonably in order to make their own change. In each episode, you'll meet passionate change makers who are rewriting the rules and daring to dream bigger for their community and our city. My hope that their stories ignite something in you, that you'll be inspired to reimagine what's possible and lead with purpose in your work, your life, and right here in Jacksonville. You're gonna really be inspired. Welcome to another episode of Unreasonable. I'm Josh Martino. I'm your host and a member of the Jacksonville Civic Council. Our guest today is Amy Berg, a Jacksonville transplant who brought her talent and wisdom to Jacksonville about 15 years ago after spending a career in civic and cultural leadership with the Aspen Institute and the Better Angels Society, two of the country's most important nonprofit organizations devoted to fostering dialogue and telling America's story. In Jacksonville, Amy's a member of the World Affairs Council, Jacksonville University Board of Trustees, and the Jacksonville Civic Council. Amy, welcome to Unreasonable.

SPEAKER_01 1:35

Thank you for having me.

SPEAKER_00 1:36

Good to have you here. Well, you grew up in the suburbs of Los Angeles. So from one non-JAX native to another. Tell us about your childhood and what it was like growing up in LA during that time.

SPEAKER_01 1:47

Well, I had a pretty wonderful, calm, uneventful childhood in Los Angeles. Um it was in the suburbs and everything was perfect. Uh except for there was very bad air quality at that time in Los Angeles. It was before the Clean Air Act was enacted by the Bush administration, and it was just horrendous. So I had horrible asthma as a child. I didn't wasn't able to participate in sports. And I think that that really influenced my life in terms of really caring about the environment and caring about the physical landscape around me. In particular when I was a little child in LA, you know, you could I could look out our door and see sheep grazing and farmers and lots and lots of fruit trees.

SPEAKER_03 2:36

Wow.

SPEAKER_01 2:36

It was beautiful. But by the time I went away to college, it was totally paved, paved over. It was really, you know, Joni Mitchell paved paradise. Wow. And um so all of that influenced me in terms of wanting to really go into environmental planning, city planning, urban planning, and what makes a community a great place to live in terms of quality of life.

SPEAKER_00 2:59

Is there some history behind you? Is there something in your childhood? Is there some moment that inspired you to take your environment and make it your purpose?

SPEAKER_01 3:09

I don't know if there was one moment that inspired me, but I've always uh tried to do things that are in beautiful places with interesting people. Not a bad thing. But I um I've been very lucky that I've been able to do that. I mean, right out of graduate school, I started working in Santa Barbara, California, another beautiful place where I uh worked in a really interesting area on the offshore oil development at that time that was going on off the coast of California, and where we had to collaborate with the oil companies, with the federal government, with the state government, and with the environmentalists, you know, the county government, and everyone had to work together. It was a really interesting time. Uh and I after that I was then promoted to be the um the planning director in Santa Barbara County. Um, got married at the time in Santa Barbara, and it wasn't until after I was married that my husband at the time said, I can't live where there aren't seasons. And I said, Well, what are seasons? I'd always lived on the West Coast.

SPEAKER_00 4:19

73 degrees and sunny.

SPEAKER_01 4:21

So that's how I got to Aspen, really to save my marriage. Uh, because Aspen had seasons, and I got a job there um as of eventually the the city manager of of Aspen, Colorado. So, yeah, Carmel, Santa Barbara, Aspen, not too sure. Jacksonville.

SPEAKER_00 4:38

I've been Yeah, I'm waiting for Paris to show up in there somewhere. Um well, for someone who might not know about the Aspen Institute and the Better Angels Society, tell us about the who, what, and why of both institutions.

SPEAKER_01 4:50

Sure. Um after I worked as the city manager of Aspen for about uh over 10 years, I was recruited by the Aspen Institute. The Aspen Institute was founded uh in Aspen, Colorado, as a uh a nonprofit organization centered around civic dialogue. Um, really, the mission of the institute was to bring people together from opposite viewpoints and create a forum for them to share ideas, talk, and learn from one another in order to solve problems. Uh the Aspen Institute was also very much a leadership organization based on values. You know, people don't use that word so much anymore, but it's values-based leadership, where you studied and read sort of the great philosophical and intellectual works of Western civilization, and through that process um you learned what your own values were and how to utilize those in leadership uh in business.

SPEAKER_00 5:55

Would the institute wait for a crises to um evolve before you know saying that's something we need to get involved with? I mean, there's obviously pre-existing issues every day that can be tackled. Um, how on the forefront um were the members of the Aspen Institute of assessing a situation and saying we can help here because we've created this possibility of dialogue?

SPEAKER_01 6:18

A little bit of both. I mean, I think that the Aspen Institute today covers almost every policy area you can imagine. So you you you might they might be talking about international foreign policy, or they might be talking about the environment, uh, healthcare. I mean, you name it, they have a policy program uh around that issue. But also the reason I got to know the Aspen Institute was the city of Aspen at the time had very enlightened elected officials who saw that they could utilize the resources of the Aspen Institute to help them with local community problems. So that gets to your point about you know, did something come up? And the city leaders would say, Hey, Aspen Institute, can you convene a group of stakeholders to sit around a round table with a facilitator and have a process that helps us resolve the you know this issue in our town? And it might have been uh a lot of it, you know, it's a small town, a lot of it was things like traffic, affordable housing, um design, you know, code, planning codes and that sort of thing, regulations.

SPEAKER_00 7:33

Making sure nobody goes over 15 down Main Street.

SPEAKER_01 7:37

I always tell people that when I first moved to Aspen, the biggest issue in town was dog poop. So um, but you know, you learn a lot from I learned a lot from working in local city government because, you know, one thing that I learned is the the people that were elected officials that I originally admired and still do, but that stuck to their own ideological viewpoint and were not willing to compromise. In the long run, those people didn't really get anything done. And they didn't, you know, if if they didn't want to uh cut down any trees in aspen, they never succeeded in in meeting their agenda because they refused to work with other people. So it really taught me a lesson that I've utilized in the rest of my career that if you want to get something done, you have to learn how to work with other people, how to collaborate. And that goes back all the way to my interest in collaboration when I was younger.

SPEAKER_00 8:36

Well, tell me tell me a little bit more about the Better Angel Society.

SPEAKER_01 8:39

So um somebody asked me once, uh, why did you move to Jacksonville? And I said, well, love. And they said, Well, you really love Jacksonville that much. I said, No, I fell in love. So I when I uh my first husband passed away, he had Lou Gehrig's disease, and I was very lucky to meet Gilchrist Berg, who's like fourth-generation Jacksonville native. Uh, I met him through the Aspen Institute. And so when I married Gilchrist, I knew that he wasn't going to leave Jacksonville, and I I would need to move to Jacksonville. And so I started looking for another job that would allow me to live in Jacksonville and um do the kind of work that I enjoyed at the Aspen Institute. And at the time I had been asked by um Bobby Stein uh of Jacksonville to sit on the board of the Better Angel Society. So at my first board meeting, uh I realized that they were hiring an executive director to run the Better Angel Society and take it to the next level. And it could be remote, it was before COVID. And so I put my name in the hat and got the job to run the Better Angels Society. Um and that allowed me to uh be in Jacksonville but work more on a on a national level. And the Better Angels Society was uh is a nonprofit that's really dedicated to American history uh and to uh showing uh having people learn about American history through film, through documentary film. Um and of course, our biggest filmmaker was Ken Burns, uh who has done so many brilliant, amazing, amazing films throughout the years. And um, we really uh helped him raise money for his films and also through that process did a lot of education and community outreach outreach around the films when they came out. Uh and then we expanded that to say, you know, who's gonna be the next little Ken Burns is running around out there? Uh and and expanded that to say who the next generation of filmmakers could be, and how could we help facilitate those people who didn't have the same, you know, national reputation as Ken Burns and didn't have the same opportunities to have their films be seen by more people. Right. And um, so we started a uh a couple of different programs to support those other filmmakers, including up uh Ken Burns uh prize for film that uh puts people on the on the national level and gets their films seen by more people.

SPEAKER_00 11:26

Well, I believe, you know, we were talking earlier. I'm not uh not the greatest reader just because of a you know audible thing, but um I need a perfect setting to get through even a paragraph of a book, but film is a powerful medium. Um it provides visual context, which can be, you know, more indelible sometimes than the written word. Um is that why the Better Angels Society is so effective? Is because film, you know, especially these days with screens being so prevalent and how people learn, um, how people read, um, how they get their information, um, being on screen. Is that why film is so impactful?

SPEAKER_01 12:02

Absolutely. It's emotional. Yeah. You know, it tugs at your you feel it. And if you feel it, you're gonna remember it and you're gonna think about it. Ken always says, I don't think this is a direct quote from him, but he always says, you will never change someone's mind with an argument. You can only tell change someone's mind with a good story. And he's just a brilliant storyteller.

SPEAKER_00 12:26

Yeah, the best.

SPEAKER_01 12:27

And his his material is is very well respected and it's not ideological. Uh, it's very fair and balanced, and tries to present both sides of the history. And so I think it's just incredibly important that these films are supported and that people see them and that they're used in the classroom with children to learn about history in a way that is going to change their lives.

SPEAKER_00 12:56

Well, you said it, but we we live in a time when you know often feel like trust and communication, you know, among people with differing ideas and opinions is vanishing. Um, but you worked at the highest level with these organizations that build trust through dialogue and storytelling. Um do you see them having a similar or shared mission between the two, dialogue and storytelling?

SPEAKER_01 13:18

Absolutely. You can see that there's a little thread in my life where I gravitate towards um that kind of dialogue, that storytelling, continual learning, curiosity. Yeah. And um, I just think that's so important uh in in everything we do, and sort of something that is healthy for us that because it creates community and it uh allows us to be happier. I think Aristotle said, you know, the definition of happiness is continual learning. And I I feel that way.

SPEAKER_00 13:52

And a big vision you've had recently. You and your husband Gilchrist made an incredibly generous donation from the Berg Family Charitable Foundation to support Mayo Clinics Innovation Exchange, a program launched in 2019 that helps innovation startups and entrepreneurs in the healthcare space. Tell us about that work and why it's so important to your family.

SPEAKER_01 14:13

It's so interesting because again, before I even knew Gilchrist, I worked with Ken Burns on a documentary on the history of the Mayo Clinic. Um it's so interesting how all these threads come together. And I think we're just so lucky here in Jacksonville to have the Mayo Clinic in this area because when you look at how the Mayo Clinic was started and how it evolved over time, it was a very much a values-based organization, a nonprofit based on, you know, always putting the patient first. It wasn't a profit-making organization. And to this day, I think that the Mayo Clinic has uh maintained those values in all, even though they've grown so much. They really uh are impressive in being an organization that supports patient care first above everything else, and also continual innovation in how they work and what they do. So I think um Gilchrist has been working for for you know over seven years with the Mayo Clinic on how to design this innovation exchange to be something that would uh be very open-ended, and he wouldn't, you know, a lot of the innovation doesn't happen until you know somebody actually gives it money and takes it on. But this is to to get in at the very beginning of innovation and accepting all sorts of different ideas. I mean, we've we've seen nurses that have worked in healthcare for years who think of a better way to put in a catheter.

SPEAKER_03 15:56

Wow.

SPEAKER_01 15:56

And they have that idea, but they don't have the means to uh take that idea and make it into a new product or a new policy or a new way of doing things. And so the Innovation Exchange is really takes that little nugget of that nurse and expands it to the entire globe where people can submit ideas and and and have get help in moving their ideas forward. Um, and they're using AI and all sorts of other tools to make this a very, very powerful tool.

SPEAKER_00 16:28

So the through line, it seems like, is you you are able to take an idea, uh, a concept, your own or others, and see it to the finish line or help assist it to the finish line through the help of other leaders, through your own doing, um you have this vision and you see it through. And what you're creating now in a completely different space in healthcare are ideas and innovation and entrepreneurial gusto and you're helping others see their vision. When you think say catheter, I mean how many catheters are placed every single day at Mayo. I mean it's it's you know, I don't even know what the number is, but it's high. Something, you know, so routine to become more effective, more patient friendly. Um, and I'm sure there's far more innovation, but you're able to help these people see these things through to the finish line to create better health care.

SPEAKER_01 17:20

Absolutely. I think one of the key words is is the word exchange because it's not um a venture capital kind of a thing where you're gonna do something if you can uh make it work for the mayo clinic. They're connecting entrepreneurs and innovators with other people. Oh, so-and-so is doing this in Canada. Let me connect you with them. It may never come back to the Mayo Clinic. Right. Um but they're so it's it's just a sort of a circular exchange of ideas that will, I think, turn into um, you know, huge innovation for the world in healthcare. And I, you know, I uh Mayo has such a great brand, and they also have unbelievable data. And with the with the forefront of AI, the data is king. You've got to have a lot of data in order to um, you know, make it work. And so I think in term in the realm of healthcare, Mayo is number one on top of that, and it's gonna be really interesting and fascinating to watch it grow.

SPEAKER_00 18:23

Mayo is definitely one of the reasons Jacksonville is a a beacon for healthcare. Um and it's not just a hospital, it's a research institute, it's uh it's a place of innovation, a lot of because of the work you're doing, and and a lot of those things we can point to as a city and say this is why Jacksonville, or one of the reasons Jacksonville is on the cusp of breaking through as a preeminent city in our country and you know, hopefully one day the world. I know the Civic Council, which you're a part of like me, um, has a big vision and strategy to make Jacksonville world class by 2032. Um you know, through the work you've done, through the work you're doing, um, what makes you think that's possible?

SPEAKER_01 19:04

Well, I think Jacksonville is uh already a great place. So I think we just need to tweak it and make it better. I think creating spaces for community, spaces for engagement, both physical spaces and non-physical spaces for people to get together and creating a vital, more uh robust downtown is what sort of the next step for Jacksonville is uh creating a place where people can meet and greet and uh be outside and be inside and share ideas and and have that vitality. You know, as a city planner, you learn how to sort of plan a perfect community. Right. And Jacksonville is so spread out that when I first moved here, I thought, oh, you know, this place you can't fix it. But you if you start making small, you know, small projects and small things, they're all gonna add up to what I think is the vitality that will connect this place together.

SPEAKER_00 20:06

Yeah, you being a city planner, you're the perfect person to ask these questions. So we often talk about you know, it's important to bring talent in from outside of Jacksonville. We want businesses, we want people to come here, we want to see our beautiful natural resources, the river, the ocean, how much you know green space we have. Um but I like you feel like Jacksonville is already great. It has amazing citizens, it has civic pride, um, it has talent. How do we get the current talent that's building in Jacksonville to uh be more engaged, get to the forefront, take leadership positions, take ownership of projects um and really, you know, be part of the journey with people that are coming from outside of Jacksonville.

SPEAKER_01 20:50

You know, I think I think those people are gonna be like you. They're gonna be people that are gonna see the possibilities here and find it exciting. And I still like to call Jacksonville the bold new city of the South.

SPEAKER_00 21:02

Well, we call this podcast unreasonable uh from the George Bernard Shaw quote that reads, uh reasonable man or woman adapts themselves to the world, and the unreasonable one persists to adapt the world to him or herself. Therefore, all progress depends on the unreasonable man or woman. So how does that apply to you and tell us a story where you had to be unreasonable in order to affect change?

SPEAKER_01 21:27

Oh dear. Well, I think the unreasonable sort of correlates to courage, right? Um I think in those, you know, areas of my life where I look back and say maybe I was unreasonable, it was mainly times when I was sort of naive. I didn't know what I was getting myself into. I I was in over my head. Um and so when I look back and I think, God, I did that when I was very young, or I remember when I First, I went to work for the Aspen Institute, and I I was pretty young, and all of these titans of industry and you know secretaries of state were there, and I had to speak truth to power uh about the financial situation at that time of the Aspen Institute. Uh, and as a result, the um I was let go by the president of the Aspen Institute. And uh then the next day they fired the president of the Aspen Institute and hired me back. Wow. And so that's something that sort of you think about, you know, why did you do that, Amy? Why did you in your position step out and and say, I need to honestly tell you what's going on here financially. It wasn't corruption, it was just, you know, it was just this is the financial situation. Yeah, we're in bad shape. We need to work on fixing it. So that's that's one you know example of being unreasonable. I think that um again, when I was really young and I didn't know what I was doing, I was promoted into a a management level position. This was Santa Barbara, and I didn't realize that the person I was up against was the head of the union. And I wasn't, I didn't even know what a union was. Never worked with a union. Right. So my first staff meeting, 40 people around the table. I said, why don't we go around? We'll introduce ourselves, introduce yourself and let me know what you're doing. Well, they had all taken a vow of silence as a protest because they wanted their guy to get the job that I had just gotten. And it was horrifying as a new manager. Like, how do you handle that? How do you go around the table and each person just doesn't talk? And so I think over time I was able to I went I went home that night and cried. And the next morning I just got up and said, I'm just gonna keep going and pretend like that didn't happen. And I won all of those people over.

SPEAKER_03 24:07

Right.

SPEAKER_01 24:08

So in a way, you have to have you you earned it and you have to have the courage to kind of try new things and and and do that. And I think for me, I was mainly doing it out of ignorance.

SPEAKER_00 24:20

But it seems like each time you did receive some sort of validation, right? And then with each one of those experiences where you you achieve validation, either from winning those people over or from getting fired and rehired the next day, um, it probably encouraged you more and more to put yourself out there, to be unreasonable if you had to be, um, to do what was in your heart and be fearless and not feel like an imposter.

SPEAKER_01 24:46

Aaron Powell I think so. I think to be authentic and to do that and to try something that you don't think you can do. And that gets back to these young people in Jacksonville. I see a lot of that. I see people here trying things uh that are entrepreneurial and they don't they're not sure if they can do it or not, but they're going for it.

SPEAKER_00 25:05

So yeah, I think that speaks to the heart of this town. Well, yeah, you've certainly validated this podcast from being on today. I really appreciate you being here as a guest on Unreasonable. We share stories of people who haven't been afraid to pursue ambitious goals, um, even when they seemed improbable or impractical, and you certainly embody that sentiment. So thank you for being here.

SPEAKER_01 25:25

That was fun, thank you.

SPEAKER_00 25:27

All right, and thank you for joining us on this episode of Unreasonable. We'll see you the next time. Thanks for joining us on Unreasonable. Look for us online, follow us on social media, and wherever you get your favorite podcasts.