Gail Kennard is president of Kennard Design Group (KDG), a Los Angeles architectural firm founded in 1957 by her father, the late Robert Kennard, FAIA. In 2023, two of her father’s projects, City of Carson (California) City Hall and the Watts Happening Cultural Center, received preservation planning grants through the Conserving Black Modernism partnership between the National Trust for Historic Preservation and the Getty Foundation. Her biography about her father’s career will be released in 2025.
Since 2010, she has served on the City of Los Angeles Cultural Heritage Commission and is currently the commission’s vice-president. As a commissioner, she has advocated for landmark designations associated with women and underrepresented groups.
She serves on advisory committees for the African American Historic Places Los Angeles project, a joint effort between the City of Los Angeles Office of Historic Resources and the Getty Foundation, and the African Americans in California for the State of California Office of Historic Preservation.