Woodrow "Woody" McCutchen

Managing Director
Blue Meridian Partners

"Lisa is one of the best I've seen at getting all stakeholders in a collective impact initiative to understand and own the imperative that 'IMPACT' must always be the fundamental principle and therefore has absolute priority over all of the individual layers and players in the effort.  Her presentation of the essential strategic elements of a successful strategy is artful, articulate, and well-received by policymakers and business and philanthropic investors."

Kathy Taylor

Former Mayor of Tulsa, Oklahoma
Oklahoma State Secretary of Commerce & Tourism
EVP & General Counsel

"Lisa has become an advisor and thought partner to me and the most powerful change-makers in our community.  With a non-threatening approach, Lisa makes an impact quietly and powerfully.  I am decades her senior and have held top leadership positions in our community. Lisa is my thought partner, my truth teller, and my motivator.  She can assess a community, make connections and help you make a difference.  I have worked with numerous consultants and nonprofit leaders—no one has impacted my world and our community like Lisa."

Ken Levit

Executive Director
George Kaiser Family Foundation

"We hired Lisa Lazarus as an embedded consultant.  She is a real superstar.  She has worked closely with us on some of our hardest and most significant efforts.  She threw herself in with total commitment and got things accomplished while always working as a great team member and colleague."

Elizabeth Arndorfer

Program Officer, Reproductive Health Program
The David and Lucile Packard Foundation

"I have worked 1:1 with Lisa Lazarus for 2 years on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in my professional capacity. Hands down, it has been the best professional development I have done – in terms of time, money and skills development. I am a better professional for having worked with her.

The primary goal of our engagement has been to expand my understanding of DEI issues by reading and discussing relevant books, articles and podcasts and building my skills to lead and manage with these issues at the forefront. In addition to these more “academic” discussion, we also work on real world issues that I am dealing with in my professional capacity. One of the things that I appreciate about working with Lisa is that she uses role playing to help develop, pilot and strengthen my DEI muscle. As a white women, I used to find talking about issues of race can be challenging and uncomfortable. But through Lisa’s skilled facilitation, I am more confident and capable of using my voice and position of privilege and power to address DEI – both as a manager and a subordinate. Ultimately, I am becoming the professional I want to be and am contributing to a more just and equitable workplace and world. For me, Lisa’s coaching has been an effective combination of learning and practical problem solving. I highly recommend working with Lisa and would be happy to discuss my experience in more detail."

Ami Novoryta

Chief Program Officer
Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Chicago

"Lisa possesses a singular combination of leadership and management skills. Not only is she able to guide a room full of leaders toward collective action, she also creates opportunities to support individuals in their professional growth. As a peer and an admirer, I've had the opportunity to see Lisa in action multiple times - and I'm in awe that again and again, she builds real capacity in people and organizations in ways that display both her natural gifts and her unmatched work ethic.

The best part about it? She's driven by a desire to make an impact on people, on lives, and on communities. And we're all the better for it. I recommend Lisa without reservation to any project, organization, and opportunity she pursues."

J.D. Johnson

Director of Shared Leadership
Birth through Eight Strategy for Tulsa, George Kaiser Family Foundation

"It is rare to experience an interview process as an exploration rather than a competition. Lisa Lazarus created that experience during the interview process she was leading. Along the way, she balanced the art of challenging and affirming a candidate during the interviewing process. She created an atmosphere that allowed me to own my experience, ask necessary questions, identify transferable skills, and operate authentically. Her professionalism, genuine curiosity, and openness made a rigorous experience feel navigable. While I am grateful to have secured the role applied for, Lisa made this process feel worthwhile even if I had heard a no. Thankfully, it was a yes! I am excited someone like Lisa is leading the charge of what it means to redefine interviewing processes that historically create barriers by perpetuating exclusionary practices, often rooted in oppression. The process with Lisa and the team felt inclusive and refreshing. Thank you for ensuring quality exists with humanity. Truly, the best experience I've had to date!"

Stacie Kossoy

Founder
Kossoy Consulting

"I am so grateful for the work I did with Lisa Lazarus. As a leadership coach as I was launching my own consulting practice, Lisa helped me set a timeline to test assumptions, which allowed me to be patient without self-judgment. She also encouraged me to charge what I’m worth, which has paid off. Lisa's coaching and strategic advising helped me to build a successful independent consulting practice and to hire a subcontractor. I have several projects, all of which are working directly with my preferred type of client. I highly recommend working with Lisa!"

Parisa Pilehvar

Managing Director
Alumni Impact at Teach for America Oklahoma

"Our organization chooses to work with Lisa to provide development to our alumni leaders because our network wants to learn from action-oriented and equity-minded facilitators with expertise in their field. In her sessions, Lisa embodies these mindsets in both her content and interactions with participants. She is adept at providing a lot of information in a digestible format, and also engaging learners in provocative role plays and discussions that support them to apply their learning and plan for action. I most appreciated Lisa’s receptiveness to catering the sessions to our organization’s mission and values, namely in ensuring that topics like negotiation and career development tied back to our mission of educational equity. I was also grateful that Lisa has thought through the diversity of participants who might learn from her and names when material is catered to different identities or suggests resources that might meet different needs. While arranging for facilitation could be a very operational and impersonal process, I felt supported and developed as a leader working alongside Lisa, and can see evidence of her coaching and consulting expertise woven into all of her interactions. I highly recommend her in any capacity that supports growth in your organization."