Lisa MacSpadden is a veteran communications professional with decades of experience as a strategic advisor to elected and appointed officials, C-suite executives, board members, and senior leaders. She excels at navigating high pressure, politically sensitive, and confidential issues while demonstrating the utmost level of discretion and judgment.
A former news producer and reporter, Lisa has managed large-scale press operations in the public and private sectors, directed state-wide press on two presidential campaigns, and served as a senior liaison with the White House. Her expertise spans crisis management, messaging, media and public engagement, government relations, marketing, and website redesign in a range of fields including healthcare, education, housing, consumer affairs, transportation, real estate, and urban planning.
Lisa has held appointed posts as New York’s Deputy Secretary of State, Director of Media Relations at the Port Authority of New York & New Jersey, Deputy Director of New York Governor Andrew Cuomo’s Washington office, and as a Senior Executive Service member at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) during the Clinton Administration. She also served as Managing Director and Chief Communications Officer at a non-profit in New York, as Director of Public and Media Engagement at the National Capital Planning Commission (NCPC) in Washington, Senior Advisor to the CEO and Chairman of a physician-owned health care corporation in Arizona, Senior Consultant to the National Black MBA Association, Field Producer at two Academy Awards, and a Senior News Producer and Reporter in Phoenix.
Lisa is passionate about working hard, getting to the crux of an issue, and bringing home results. She cultivates key relationships to advance an organization’s mission and generate positive press. For decades, she has secured high-level exposure for executives through media interviews, opinion pieces, and high-profile public appearances. Coverage includes ABC World News Tonight, NBC Nightly News, CBS Evening News, NBC’s Today Show, CBS This Morning, CBS Sunday Morning, CNN, New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, USA Today, Los Angeles Times, Forbes, and others.
At the bi-state Port Authority, Lisa coordinated media, marketing, and government relations activities during the rebuilding of One World Trade Center, the annual 9/11 commemorations, Superstorm Sandy, and Bridgegate. At HUD, a Cabinet-level agency with 81 field offices and 8,000 employees, she served as a member of the Secretary’s senior team and facilitated national outreach on department initiatives. While at NCPC, Lisa served as senior liaison with the White House, elected officials, and external stakeholders on projects of national and historic significance and oversaw outreach on precedent setting security measures at federal agencies in the wake of September 11. She led the agency’s exchanges with international planning envoys and executed an award winning week-long conference for delegates from 15 capital cities around the globe. In the non-profit arena, Lisa managed outreach for a coalition co-chaired by Howard Schultz comprising 50 national leaders who partnered to drive change in the digital economy. She developed plenary and focus group sessions, managed the release of their collectively authored book, and promoted national research on the evolving landscape of the American job market.
A musical theater enthusiast, Lisa is married with two children and resides in New York City. She holds a Bachelor of Science from the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism at Arizona State University.