Lisa Katz

Lisa Baragar Katz is the Founder of Adelant Consulting, LLC. Throughout her career, Katz has developed regional innovation strategies grounded in talent, entrepreneurship, and cluster-based economic development. She has extensive nonprofit leadership and philanthropic experience, serves on numerous nonprofit boards, and has helped secure hundreds of millions of dollars in public investment for regional transformation efforts.

In her previous role, she oversaw strategy and investments related to economic vitality and entrepreneurship in the Detroit region for the William Davidson Foundation. This included managing an annual grants portfolio to create a strong support ecosystem for diverse growth-, tech-, and community-based entrepreneurs.

As part of her changemaking work, Katz provided strategic leadership in Southeast Michigan’s successful bid for a $52.2 million Build Back Better Regional Challenge grant. She also spearheaded key research initiatives and policy discussions around modernizing the state’s economic development strategies to include startups and innovation cluster strategies.

Earlier in her career, Katz founded and led a multi-stakeholder nonprofit partnership, Workforce Intelligence Network, to align economic and workforce development in Southeast Michigan.

Both the Organisation for Economic Co-operation & Development and the U.S. General Accounting Office have recognized her work.

Katz has a Master of Public Administration (University of Michigan) and a Bachelor of Arts in International Relations with a Certificate in Latin American & Caribbean Studies (Michigan State University). As a Rotary International Ambassadorial Fellow, she undertook additional graduate studies at the Latin American Faculty for Social Sciences in Buenos Aires, Argentina. She speaks conversational Spanish.