Staff

Lisa Katz is Director of Strategic Partnerships & Industry Relations at the University of Michigan Center for Innovation (UMCI), a Detroit-based innovation hub for education, workforce development, and youth programming. There she builds relationships with startups, corporations, investors, government, nonprofits, and philanthropic organizations to further the center's educational and applied research objectives.

Previously, at the William Davidson Foundation, Lisa led economic vitality and entrepreneurship strategy for the Detroit region, managing an annual grants portfolio that built a strong support ecosystem for growth-stage, tech-based, and community entrepreneurs. She also was founding executive director of the Workforce Intelligence Network, a multi-stakeholder nonprofit aligning economic and workforce development across Southeast Michigan. Under her leadership, the organization grew from a staff of one to more than twenty with a diversified funding portfolio, while thousands of workers took part in the training and apprenticeship programs she helped design. The Workforce Intelligence Network received best-practices recognition in publications from both the OECD and U.S. General Accounting Office.

Throughout her career, Lisa has brought extensive nonprofit leadership and philanthropic experience to her work, helping develop strategies and secure hundreds of millions of dollars for integrated innovation efforts, weaving together talent, entrepreneurship, and strategic economic cluster activities. She has also advised communities nationally on navigating major economic and technology transitions — from standing up a hybrid electronics applied research center in California to helping Guam absorb a U.S. military base. She also has shaped policy, ranging from a new U.S./Canada border crossing to incentives to expand clean-tech venture investment in the Midwest.

Lisa holds a Master of Public Administration from the University of Michigan and a Bachelor of Arts in International Relations, with a Certificate in Latin American & Caribbean Studies, from Michigan State University. As a Rotary International Ambassadorial Fellow, she completed additional graduate study at FLACSO in Buenos Aires, Argentina. She is conversational in Spanish and serves on numerous nonprofit boards.