About us

Climate Strategy Works was founded by Lisa Richmond following a 20-year career working with practitioners, associations and NGOs on climate-forward policy and practice.

Lisa’s experience leading NGOs and organizing private-sector action has given her a deep understanding of the challenges and rewards leaders face in prioritizing climate impact within revenue, capacity and mission constraints. Her superpowers are organizational strategy, complex project implementation, and group visioning for collective impact.

Colleagues describe Lisa as “A natural connector of people, cultures and ideas,” “A rare combination of strategic thinker, idea generator, and true collaborator,” and “An impactful producer of scalable solutions to combat the climate crisis.”

Through Climate Strategy Works, Lisa has supported clients in long-range strategic planning, concept development, management of complex multi-stakeholder projects, strategic communication and brand positioning within the UNFCCC global climate dialogues.

Before founding CSW, Lisa was the Executive Director of AIA Seattle for 15 years, where she launched several national sustainable design continuing education programs, built advocacy capacity to influence local and state climate policy, and helped author the AIA’s first climate action plan. She is the founder of multiple organizations and initiatives, including the development of Seattle’s Center for Architecture and Design.

Lisa is an acknowledged thought leader on climate and the built environment, with a particular focus on climate justice, sufficiency measures, whole-life carbon reduction, and traditional and indigenous knowledge. She is a vocal advocate of balancing ecological boundaries with human development needs, with emphasis on the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals.

An award-winning leader, Lisa has been recognized as a Loeb Fellow with the Harvard Graduate School of Design, a Senior Fellow with Architecture 2030, and an Honorary Member of the American Institute of Architects. She is a trained Climate Reality leader and mentor, a Certified Sustainability Excellence Associate, and a Visiting Professional at LMN Architects in Seattle. She was a delegate and speaker at three recent UN climate summits: COP26 in Glasgow, COP27 in Sharm-el-Sheikh and COP28 in Dubai.

Lisa currently serves on the Board of Directors for Seattle Neighborhood Greenways and the Southeast Seattle Design Review Board. She serves on the international leadership group of Climate Heritage Network, advancing global climate action through building re-use and scaling up traditional and indigenous building knowledge. She helps lead faith-based climate action with the University Unitarian Climate Action Team, and volunteers as a CEO coach and facilitator with the Guatemala-based non-profit Refuge International.