People

Lisa Dreier is Founder and Principal at the Systems Leadership Lab, an independent consultancy that equips leaders to drive systemic change on complex issues. The Lab provides teaching, capacity building and thought leadership on the Systems Leadership approach – engaging a wide array of leaders and practitioners who work on sustainable development, social impact and corporate responsibility issues.

Prior to founding the Lab, Lisa developed research on Systems Leadership as a Senior Program Fellow with the Harvard Kennedy School’s Corporate Responsibility Initiative, and designed executive education programs on social impact as Managing Director of the Harvard Advanced Leadership Initiative. She researched food-system innovations as a Visiting Scholar with Stanford University’s Center for Food Security and the Environment. She has authored or co-authored numerous reports and articles on sustainable development and leadership-related topics.

During 13 years at the World Economic Forum, Lisa pioneered the organization’s practice of Systems Leadership, developing a unique approach profiled in a Harvard Kennedy School case study. She founded and led the Forum’s largest and most action-oriented global program at the time, engaging over 650 organizations and 1500 individual leaders with a focus on transforming food systems. The initiative mobilized over 100 value-chain partnerships in 21 countries; catalyzed investments; partnered with the G7 and G20 on major initiatives; and founded a 150-person Transformation Leaders Network to support food system innovators.  

Lisa previously worked at the U.N. Millennium Project and Columbia University Earth Institute, consulted with the World Bank and North American Development Bank, and worked for 8 years at the Environmental Defense Fund. She holds an M.P.P. in Public Policy and an M.A. in Energy and Resources from U.C. Berkeley, and a B.A. from Bowdoin College.  She is based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA.