Liisa is the Executive Director of the Oregon Bioscience Association. She earned her accounting degree from Michigan State University. After becoming a CPA, Liisa eventually transitioned to industry. Over the past 20+ years, she has held operations and leadership roles with organizations in a variety of industries including automotive, medical device, drug discovery, and most recently, with life science trade associations in both California and Oregon. In her four years with a small medical device company, she experienced first-hand the education gaps that exist in the real world. Hiring manufacturing and quality technicians for cleanroom operations was a specific challenge as candidates who “looked great on paper” didn’t perform to the level expected. She went on to address those gaps with her life science workforce development efforts; as the chair of the Coalition of State Bioscience Institute (CSBI), Liisa has co-led an initiative to produce four biennial national life science workforce reports – a valuable resource to educators and legislators on life science industry in-demand skills. She is passionate about the mission of the Boz Institute and was excited to work with Goran to launch an organization that is helping under-resourced individuals understand the wonder and rigors of science while gaining the necessary skills to be successful in a science career and in life.

​