As we celebrate International Women’s Day in 2023, it is important to highlight the incredible women who are leading the charge in technology for good. One such woman is Lisa Towles, the Board President of BRIDGEGOOD, a nonprofit organization dedicated to providing design and tech education to underrepresented communities.

Lisa Towles is a proud resident of Oakland, California, and has been actively involved with BRIDGEGOOD since April 2013. In her role as Board President, she has been instrumental in helping the organization transition from the Oakland Digital Arts & Literacy Center to BRIDGEGOOD.

But Lisa’s contributions to the organization go beyond her board leadership. With nearly 8 years of experience at IBM as a Senior Software Development Manager, 5 years at HCL Software as Senior Manager of Operations, and most recently as Director of Strategic Communications at Western Digital, Lisa brings a wealth of knowledge and expertise to BRIDGEGOOD.

Her profession has also included 15 years as a career counselor providing resume consultation, planning, and coaching to student designers. This experience has been invaluable in helping BRIDGEGOOD’s User Experience (UX) Design Apprenticeship students navigate the competitive job market and find success in their creative careers.

Lisa’s extensive work experience in the corporate world has also been incredibly valuable to BRIDGEGOOD’s design students. With 20 years working in corporate environments, Lisa has directly managed UX designers, hired UX designers, interviewed them, and worked directly with them on software engineering projects. This expertise has helped BRIDGEGOOD’s students gain a better understanding of what it takes to succeed in the corporate world.

On this International Women’s Day in 2023, we would like to thank Lisa for her contributions to our community and for being a powerful advocate for women’s board leadership. As Melody Beattie once said, “Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow.” BRIDGEGOOD is grateful for Lisa’s leadership and look forward to continuing to work with her in 2023 and beyond.