He grew up in
East Germany, where he initially studied
theology, the only subject he was allowed to study. After the
German reunification, he worked for the
Federal Commissioner for the Stasi Records and became a close aide of
Joachim Gauck, serving as his press secretary. In 1991, he was one of six individuals, one of them also being Gauck, who were awarded the
Theodor Heuss medal by the Theodor Heuss Foundation, on behalf of the peaceful protesters of 1989 in then-East Germany. In 1992, he left the Federal Commissioner's office to study law, and earned an
LL.M. at the
University of Pennsylvania in 1998. In 2000, he passed the second state examination, qualifying as a
lawyer. He then worked as an adviser to the
Federal Ministry of the Interior. From 2004, he worked for the
Evangelical Church in Germany. Following Gauck's nomination for
President of Germany, Gill became head of his transition team and the designated head of the
Bundespräsidialamt. Gill was head of the Bundespräsidialamt, in the rank of
state secretary, until the end of Gauck's tenure in February 2017. His successor was Stephan Steinlein. == Personal life ==