Lisa Gardner
Lisa Gardner is an organization effectiveness consultant, speaker and facilitator with expertise in leadership development, inclusion, strategic planning, and change management. Her 25 years of multi-industry experience includes leadership and consulting roles in Fortune 100 companies, privately held organizations, national non-profits, federal and local government agencies, and healthcare.
Ms. Gardner specializes in launching and revitalizing diversity and employee engagement initiatives. She draws on her organization development and human resources skills and experience to find common ground among and across workgroups, and she quickly gains the support of employees and leaders at all organizational levels.
Prior to launching her consulting practice, Ms. Gardner was the Director, Diversity and Inclusion at Fannie Mae, where she reinvigorated the fifteen-year-old diversity and inclusion initiative through development of a new comprehensive diversity strategy. She also served as a Senior Diversity Advisor at Freddie Mac and as founding Director of Diversity at AARP.
Ms. Gardner’s initial success in leading diversity was as Director, Human Resources for The Discovery Channel. She launched and managed the company’s first diversity initiative in the early 1990’s in addition to leading other innovative employee engagement programs. Also a senior Human Resources generalist, Ms. Gardner established herself early in her career as an organization effectiveness leader. Prior roles include Human Resources Manager for a 2000-employee real estate development company and Compensation Director for a 6000-employee teaching hospital.
Ms. Gardner earned her B.S. in Business and Management from the University of Maryland and her M.S. in Organization Development from the American University/NTL Institute. She is certified by the Society of Human Resource Management (SHRM) as a Senior Professional in Human Resources (SPHR), and is qualified to interpret the Myers Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI).
