Co-CEO
Lisa Christy is a specialist in understanding audiences and how best to communicate with them. She is the Co-CEO of Portland Japanese Garden, serving alongside Aki Nakanishi to guide the organization into its next era of cultural leadership, community partnership, and global exchange. She joined the Garden in 2014 as Director of Marketing & Communications at a pivotal moment, just as the Garden embarked on its historic Cultural Crossing expansion designed by Kengo Kuma. Lisa later served as Chief External Affairs Officer and then Executive Director before being appointed Co-CEO in 2026.
Lisa’s approach to leadership is rooted in her early life in the arts. Trained as a classical pianist on the path toward a concert career, she developed a deep appreciation for discipline, nuance, and how emotion is communicated without words. Ultimately, she realized that her true passion was understanding how people connect: what moves them, what inspires them, and what opens the door to belonging. That realization led her to communications, and it remains the foundation of her work today. She carries this forward in leadership, guided by the philosophy: “If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.”
Throughout her tenure, Lisa has helped define how Portland Japanese Garden serves its community. She led a sevenfold expansion of the External Affairs division, oversaw a comprehensive rebrand, and directed the communications strategy for the Cultural Village opening, earning national and international recognition. She built the Garden’s guest experience strategy, expanded community access and engagement programs, and helped drive record-setting membership and attendance year after year.
Prior to joining Portland Japanese Garden, Lisa spent nearly a decade at advertising agency Wieden + Kennedy, helping to guide to some of the most influential and award-winning campaigns of the past 20 years, including Old Spice’s “The Man Your Man Could Smell Like” and Procter & Gamble’s “Thank You, Mom” Olympic campaign, as well as work for Sony, Starbucks, and Travel Oregon. Her travels to Japan on Sony campaigns, combined with tourism work for Travel Oregon, led her to her dream role at Portland Japanese Garden. Earlier in her career, she worked at agencies in Minneapolis and Kansas City.
A committed mentor and advocate for education, Lisa spent three years as a full-time adjunct professor at the University of Tennessee, where she was named Lecturer of the Year. She continues to speak to universities, professional groups, and community organizations. She holds a bachelor’s degree in communications from Middle Tennessee State University and a master’s in advertising from Michigan State University.
Lisa lives in Portland with her husband and their teenage son who keeps his mom and dad busy with his many, many, many baseball games.