Lisa Woods serves as the Chief Equity Officer leading the City of Tacoma’s Office of Equity and Human Rights. Ms. Woods provides vision, strategy and leadership to a staff who supports and implements the City’s equity initiatives with a goal to eliminate inequity in the City of Tacoma and improve outcomes for all communities. Prior to her appointment as Chief Equity Officer, Ms. Woods served in the City Manager’s Office as Assistant to the City Manager for Administrative and Performance Excellence. In this role, she worked to improve and enhance workplace culture, develop and retain aspiring leaders, support executive recruitment efforts and served as executive sponsor on organization-wide initiatives.
In addition to her 12 years working for the City of Tacoma, Ms. Woods has held leadership positions in both the private and non-profit sectors, is an entrepreneur, board member, mentor, teacher, speaker and minister. As a single mother of 4 and grandmother of one Lisa is passionate about supporting the success of future generations which led her to joining CIS Tacoma as a Board Member. Having lived experience of the importance of school programs along with education, Lisa is proud to represent CIS and support the staff working with kids every day.
Outside of work and volunteering, Lisa is an avid movie buff with an affinity for all things Marvel, Star Trek, Jurassic Park and Transformers. You can find Lisa reading, watching movies or enjoying nature in her spare time. Ms. Woods has called the Pacific Northwest home for more than 30 years and has lived, worked and played in Tacoma and the surrounding areas. Lisa holds a BA in Business with an accounting concentration from Pacific Lutheran University, a Master’s of Divinity from Faith International University, both in Tacoma, WA, a Harvard Executive Education Certificate in Driving Government and Leadership Performance and HarvardX Certificate in Higher Education Teaching.