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Lisa is an executive vice president and leader of Ruder Finn’s U.S. Marketing Practice, working across offices to drive strategy and creative news generation. With Ruder Finn for the better part of a decade, she currently oversees a $5 million book of business that includes a number of diverse brands such as TiVo, The North Face and Good Earth Organic Coffee.

Lisa’s integrated approach focuses on building custom lifestyle platforms that extend into the PR, grassroots events, viral marketing and retail promotion realm, all with an unwavering focus on her clients’ end goals. While her primary area of expertise is in the food and beverage category, launching new products such as ModMix Organic Cocktail and breathing life into mature brands such as Beringer Vineyards, she is also deeply ingrained in the automotive and consumer tech space.

Her approach is to take products out of context in order to reach new customers. To revive a beloved Tuscan wine brand, Castello di Gabbiano, Lisa worked with Foster’s Wine Estates and non-profit group Arts Fighting Cancer to create the “Gabbiano Knights” dinner and a movie series, pairing classic Italian films with Tuscan food and wine. Central to the campaign was spokesperson Claud Mann, chef for TBS’ long-running Dinner and a Movie program, who cooked up wine-ready recipes such as Gregory Pecorino Pansotti (“Roman Holiday”) and Fettu-Cine Paradiso (“Cinema Paradiso”). Following the summer tour, which included a $1 donation to the AFC for every click-through to Gabbiano.com, the team traveled to Italy to film a “Dinner and a Movie” segment at Gabbiano’s Tuscan villa, featuring product shots and brand mentions throughout—free of charge.

Before moving to California, Lisa worked in the company’s New York and Washington, DC, offices, where she led several high-profile launches. In 2004, Lisa ran the award-winning Ford Escape Hybrid "Manhattan on a Tank of Gas Challenge", an event designed to illustrate the eco-friendly benefits of the first hybrid SUV. Lisa and her team persuaded top tier media and celebrities to drive a portion of the 500-mile challenge - equivalent to every street in Manhattan - on one 15-gallon tank of gas and secured over 100 million media impressions as a result. Lisa also managed the public relations for McNeil Pharmaceuticals’ Tylenol 8 Hour product, devising the five-city “Marathon First Timers Club” market tour to highlight the product’s extended pain relief to endurance athletes.

Lisa graduated cum laude with a bachelor of arts in English from the University of Delaware, and in May completed her masters in business administration with a focus on marketing at the #2 ranked University of California, Berkeley. An avid cyclist and runner, she is training for her sixth marathon in Boston.