As Administration and Operations Manager, Lisa Yacso helps support, organize, and manage Foundation-wide priorities spanning multiple departments and team members. She also serves as parliamentarian for the Board of Trustees, coordinates closely with senior administrators, and helps oversee the Foundation’s technology.

Lisa previously served as Online MBA Program Administrator for the USF Muma College of Business. In that role, she curated innovative co-curricular programming, developed and implemented strategic initiatives, advised students, and provided academic administration. While at Muma, she also served as Director of the Women and Leadership Initiative Mentorship program for graduate (primarily female) business students. After the events of 2020, she redesigned the program into the Mentorship Forward program, which supported graduate business female students of color and their allies. She was also an adjunct instructor there.

Before that, she served as federal grant manager and budget supervisor for $6 million in the Carl Perkins IV grant at St. Petersburg College. This grant supported academic workforce education and focused in part on expanding access to diverse populations. She also administered an innovative workforce education program at Delgado Community College in New Orleans, Louisiana.

Her academic experience is complemented by nine years in leadership roles in energy management, working closely with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and public housing authorities. She served as chief operating officer and vice president at two small businesses she co-owned and was a director at Constellation Energy, then a Fortune 125 company.

As a former officer of the League of Women Voters of the St. Petersburg Area, advocacy, activism, and civic engagement are part of her core values. She also served on the Women United advisory committee and the Investments committee for United Way Suncoast for several years. She is a 2022 graduate of Leadership St. Pete.

Lisa holds a Master of Business Administration degree from the University of South Florida. She also has a Master of Education in Counseling and Guidance, specializing in College Student Affairs/Higher Education Administration, and a Bachelor’s degree in English – both from Texas State University.