Lisa Kissler is ESD’s Chief Information Officer. She started in this role in August of 2024. Prior to this role, Lisa spent nearly 15 years at ESD in various roles primarily in and around technology and project delivery.
In her last role as ESD’s first Chief Strategy and Innovation Officer, Lisa has worked on a major organizational re-design, implementation of enterprise wide portfolio and product management, and three rounds of strategic plan updates. Lisa oversaw PPP, Communications, the creation of a new Customer Compliance Division and the creation of the Office of Modernization. In that role, Lisa was focused on helping to define for a cohesive vision for the future of the organization and implementing it.
Prior to that role, Lisa was the Director of the Leave and Care Division starting in 2020. She was one of the founding members of the PFML program which has grown into more than a 400-person division, responsible for two programs. During her time in Leave and Care, Lisa employed agile practices and philosophies to both business and technical challenges.
Lisa has spent more than 20 years in state government. She has held numerous roles including Offender Grievance Program Coordinator, Executive Secretary, Communications Consultant, Chief Information Security Officer, Deputy CIO and more. She is passionate about ESD’s mission and dedicated to public service. As a fourth generation Washington state employee, Lisa is a true believer in building better government. She is an extreme collaborator and loves taking on the biggest challenges she can find. She is passionate about listening to all the smart and talented people we have here at ESD, believing their input and experience, and creating conditions for them to be successful.
Lisa and her husband Mark have a 10-year-old daughter, Amelia, who is the center of their universe. As an Olympia native, Lisa and her family spend a lot of time with extended family and friends along with their two dogs, Gremlin and Loki.
