Lisa Actor
Senior Philanthropy Advisor
Lisa Actor is the Senior Philanthropy Advisor and also serves as the executive director of the Lowell Observatory Foundation. She previously led the Philanthropy Department as Chief Philanthropy Officer until early 2024.
Lisa came to Lowell Observatory in March of 2015. Prior to that, she spent 18 years on the development staff at Westminster College in Salt Lake City. She took on several roles at Westminster, including Director of Foundation and Government Relations, Director of Gift Planning, Development Director, and Associate Vice President for Institutional Advancement.
Lisa earned a B.S. in biology from the University of the South in Tennessee and worked for the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) for five years, serving as deck officer/survey party chief on a ship charting the waters of Alaska and Hawaii.
Lisa is also an author, publishing the Civil War-era children’s novel, Rebel Raiders, in 2013.