Leadership Council: Lisa Leander

Lisa Leander is an international development expert with over 15 years of experience managing capacity building projects globally. In her role as Program Manager, Economic Empowerment and Entrepreneurship at Vital Voices, she leads a global business accelerator for women owned small and medium sized businesses in the VV Grow Program. Previous to Vital Voices, Lisa was at the Global Business School Network where she was leading partnerships between 70 top-tier business schools and their faculty designing new global programs. In her previous positions she has overseen USAID, World Bank, U.S State Department and DFID projects in the Middle East and Africa worth up to 24 million. She has managed overall operations, implemented programs, conducted impact evaluations, managed contracts, and built systems in multiple countries and contexts. Lisa has a MA in International Development Studies from Elliott School of International Affairs at the George Washington University and a BA in History and Spanish from Sonoma State University.