Lisa Strandberg will become the new Executive Director of Pillars, effective August 1. In this role, Strandberg will provide strategic leadership for all Pillars operations and community partnerships. Joining Pillars in June 2020, Strandberg has led the Community Engagement team and been a member of the agency’s executive leadership team.
“Lisa has proven herself to be an exceptional leader within Pillars, and we are thrilled to have her step up into the Executive Director role,” said Steve Williams, President of the Pillars Board of Directors. “In the two years since she has joined Pillars, Lisa has worked diligently to learn and support all facets of Pillars. She has a strong passion for our mission and is tireless in finding ways to serve and support those who struggle with a place to call home. We completed an extensive search for our next leader, and Lisa quickly rose to the top. I am excited to work with Lisa and to continue the valuable work that Pillars brings to our community.”
Prior to joining Pillars in 2020, Strandberg spent 18 months spearheading InterSector, a regional initiative funded by the J. J. Keller Foundation to build capacity in nonprofit HR, IT, finance and administrative functions. From 2011 to 2018, Strandberg built and led the fundraising and communications functions at Samaritan, formerly known as Samaritan Counseling Center of the Fox Valley. Strandberg has been a resident of the Fox Cities since the mid 1990s when she relocated to the area to work for Kimberly-Clark Corporation as a scientist in the Research and Development department.
“I am honored and excited to lead the Pillars team into the future, leaning on 11 years of nonprofit leadership experience and a lifetime of relationship-building in northeast Wisconsin,” Strandberg said. “Together with our community, we will foster a creative, compassionate Fox Cities that collectively ensures that episodes of homelessness are rare and brief, and everyone has a place to call home.”
Current Pillars Executive Director Joe Mauthe announced his impending retirement in February of this year. “The Pillars team and the Fox Valley community is very fortunate to have Lisa take over as Pillars’ next Executive Director. She is bright, collaborative, strategic, and compassionate,” Mauthe said. “She has been a trusted business partner for me over the past two years. She has a great team to work with at Pillars and I have every confidence that, together, they will continue to enhance the services to provide shelter, support, and solutions to those in need of housing.”
Strandberg holds a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She is currently enrolled in the MBA program at The Donald J. Schneider School of Business and Economics at St. Norbert College as a beneficiary of the Phil Hauck Scholarship for Nonprofit Leaders. She anticipates her degree in 2024. Strandberg also is an alumnus of the Nonprofit Leadership Institute, a program of the Nonprofit Leadership Initiative within the Community Foundation for the Fox Valley Region.
Strandberg is married to David Strandberg. They have two adult children, both of whom attend the University of Wisconsin-Madison.