Whitney Gough

Whitney and her husband, Chris, live in the Richmond district with their two boys, Grayson (age 6, Kindergarten) and Will (age 9, 3rd Grade). They sought a church where their children could experience the joy of a faith-based community in the same way that they had experienced growing up. St. Mary’s was an obvious choice given its welcoming community, breadth of service offerings and family & children’s programming. In addition to the Vestry, Whitney is a member of the St. Mary’s Vital + Thriving Missional Innovation Team, serves as a prayer leader, and her sons are enthusiastic members of the St. Mary’s Children’s Choir, where she happily volunteers her time when needed.

Whitney worked for 20 years in both New York and San Francisco doing corporate and crisis communications. She worked for global agencies including Burson-Marsteller, Ketchum, Access Communications and Ruder Finn, serving clients spanning the financial, tech and consumer industries such as Bank of America, FICO, Intuit, PayPal, Juniper Networks, Johnson & Johnson, Wines of Germany and Silver Oak Cellars. In 2021, she decided to focus on just two clients (her two young sons!) and now enjoys her life as a full-time mom. She is currently a Kindergarten Room Parent at Town School, Cub Scout Den Leader for the Kindergarten Den of Pack 14, a volunteer interviewer for her alma mater, and on the Edgewood Center for Children and Families Auxiliary.

Whitney is proud to say she is a fifth generation San Franciscan, born here and baptized at Grace Cathedral. She moved with her family to Santa Barbara for elementary school, where she attended Sunday School regularly at All-Saints-by-the-Sea Episcopal church, as well as participated in their children’s choir, and, eventually, was confirmed there. For high school, Whitney attended Santa Catalina, an all-girls Catholic boarding school in Monterey, California, followed by Middlebury College, where she majored in Political Science and French and was the captain of the women’s tennis team. In her free time, Whitney loves teaching her boys to ski and golf, hiking around the Presidio, swimming in the bay, and watching little kids’ soccer games.