About Lisa Lapin

Principal & Founder, Lapin Strategy

Providing Expert Counsel For Over 25 Years

A chief communications officer for over 25 years, Lisa Lapin provides expert counsel to major universities, non-profits and commercial entities on organizational vision and strategy, communications strategy and resourcing, external and internal affairs, branding and marketing and reputation management.  She has provided organizational leadership and advised the C-suite, non-profit organizations, trade associations and commercial start-ups. She is the principal of Lapin Strategy and a Senior Associate with the Peterson Rudgers Group.

Communications Strategy for Top Non-Profits and Universities

Most recently as Vice President for Communications at the J. Paul Getty Trust, the world’s largest cultural and philanthropic organization dedicated to the visual arts, Lapin led award-winning strategic communications programs that quadrupled Getty’s annual global reach to over 900 million people. Overseeing the non-profit Trust’s communications programs, she implemented Getty’s first organization-wide brand management, and expanded digital content and owned-media capacity. Leading marketing, media relations, internal communication and public affairs, she raised the regional and international profile of Getty and its Conservation Institute, grant-making Foundation, Research Institute and Getty Library, and two world-renowned fine art museums in Los Angeles.

For a decade Lapin served as chief communications officer at Stanford University, providing central strategic communications leadership and counsel for one of the world’s leading research institutions. As member of the Stanford Cabinet an Vice President for University Communications, Lapin evolved Stanford’s brand and advised on university strategy and executive communications, including its campus-wide strategic planning process, as well as public relations, crisis and reputational management, brand management and media relations. Serving as the principal university spokesperson, she also oversaw the Stanford News Service, implemented Stanford’s first central social media platforms and multiple web redesigns, developed new internal and constituent communications, and established the university’s first centralized branding and marketing program.

Lapin led communications at the public University of California, Davis, for nearly a decade. As Assistant Vice Chancellor for University Communications, she oversaw external and internal communication strategies, marketing, crisis communications and development and alumni communications at the 35,000-student public research university. She advised the University of California systemwide office on overarching audience strategy, advocacy, state relations and broad public communications campaigns.

Deep Understanding of Media

Lapin launched her career as an award-winning journalist and editor, including 15 years at major daily newspapers, including the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, San Jose Mercury News and The Sacramento Bee. She covered state and federal politics, education, environment and science, and breaking news.  She served in newsroom management as assistant metro editor and city editor. Her coverage of the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake shared a San Jose Mercury News Pulitzer Prize.

She has provided media training to more than 1,000 professors, scientists, administrative leaders and other professionals. She has worked closely with major news organizations, served as a spokesperson to the media and organized press conferences around the globe.

Recognized as a Leader in Her Field

Lapin is a frequent speaker at professional conferences and has chaired the Summit for Advancement Leaders and the Media Relations conferences for the Council for Advancement and Support of Education.  Her teams have received the highest honors in the communications profession, including Webbys and Emmys for web and video content, and top international honors in the competitive PR Week awards, including for best social media and best viral campaigns. 

Lapin serves on the Board of the Naval Postgraduate School Foundation. She was a member of the Los Angeles Travel and Convention Board Marketing Steering Committee. She served on the Board of Trustees of the Council for Advancement and Support of Education, where she also chaired the CASE Commission on Communications and Marketing. She was a member of the Association of American Universities Public Affairs Council and is a member of the American Marketing Association, the American Alliance of Museums and the Arthur Page Society. Lapin holds an MLA from Stanford University and a BA in journalism from the University of Southern California.