About Lisa
I refuse to enable broken systems. I architect better ones.
For over three decades, I’ve led in aerospace engineering, most recently as Chief Engineer on NASA’s Orion Program at Lockheed Martin. My work has never been just about spacecraft or technical reviews. It’s been about the human element — the invisible networks of responsibility, trust, and accountability that make or break mission success.
I’ve seen the same pattern repeat across technical teams:
High-capacity leaders absorbing everyone else’s dysfunction.
Emotional labor disguised as “teamwork.”
Fragile egos dictating decisions while the most capable person quietly carries the weight.
Burnout masked as “commitment.”
I know this firsthand because I’ve been that person. I once went 38 hours without sleep on a mission-critical issue — not because the technical work was unsolvable, but because a team couldn’t write “remove microphone cap” instructions or make a basic decision without politics and blame games. That experience solidified what I now teach: systems fail not only because of technical gaps, but because of human breakdowns.
The Emotional Architect
I call my work Emotional Architecture: the practice of engineering the human variable with the same rigor as the technical. My approach isn’t “soft skills.” It’s systematic boundary design that:
Makes invisible work visible.
Stops high-capacity leaders from becoming shock absorbers for dysfunction.
Creates systems of accountability where ownership is distributed — not dumped.
I don’t run group workshops. I mentor individual leaders intensively, until they get it. My work is transformation, not training.
Why Listen to Me?
30+ years of technical leadership in aerospace and space operations.
Chief Engineer on Orion, one of the most complex spacecraft ever built.
Creator of the Orion Technical Leadership Pipeline (13 leaders in its first cohort).
Author of The Emotional Architect: Engineering the Human Variable for Technical Excellence (forthcoming, 2026).
Speaker at IEEE Aerospace Conference, Women in Manufacturing Symposium, and Society of Women Engineers conferences.
I believe excellence should be sustainable. Systems should scale without breaking the people who carry them.
Beyond the Work
When I’m not speaking or mentoring, you’ll find me training in the gym, reading widely (see Books I’m Reading for my current list), or experimenting in the kitchen. My life is a system too — one I continuously refine for resilience and sustainability
If you’re a technical leader who’s tired of carrying everyone else’s dysfunction, this is your invitation. Stop absorbing broken systems. Start architecting better ones.
