Lisa Napolione

Lisa is a trusted coach, advisor and keynote speaker who uniquely combines a deep passion for mentoring, proven strategy setting and excellent execution.

She is effective in crafting individualized growth plans for individuals and teams and brings tailored insights in both leadership and career direction. She draws on three decades of senior leadership experience in global Fortune 500 companies, building some of the most iconic brands, while most critically developing the people in her organization to their fullest potential and enabling them to meet their career goals and to advance to senior leadership roles. She is known for practical insight and candid communication, translating real world experience into actionable guidance and helping leaders make clear decisions in high stakes environments. Lisa’s commitment to mentoring is well known, and she is frequently sought out to mentor people at all levels. She has designed successful mentoring programs across countries, industries, and academia and has also built mentoring efforts into awards & recognition efforts to ensure sustaining growth for all involved.

Lisa was the Senior Vice President of Global R&D at Estée Lauder Companies for eleven years with responsibilities across the entire 25+ brand enterprise and for all their labs in the US, Canada and China. During her tenure, the business doubled in size. Lisa’s functional leadership included Clinical Science, Consumer Research, Upstream Active Technologies, Formulation, Ingredients, Scientific Communications, R&D Portfolio Management, Technical Products Research, Technical Artwork, Compliance, Stability, Data Integrity and Operations for 25+ brands of all sizes. She led R&D due diligence for the potential new brand acquisitions and all resulting integrations.

Prior, Lisa was SVP & Global Head of R&D for Novartis Consumer Health where she led all aspects of R&D globally for the Dermal, Respiratory, Pain, Migraine and Hypertension categories, each having their own tailored Regulatory strategies, with teams in Switzerland, US, India and China. She led all brands including Voltaren’s, Theraflu’s and Otrivin’s growth. Before that, Lisa led R&D across Procter & Gamble’s portfolio for 20 years. She was Senior Vice President with responsibility for Baby Care where the business doubled during her tenure. She also led R&D for all Hair Care brands, Personal Care, Antiperspirants & Deodorants, and Men’s Grooming and managed labs in all major continents.

Lisa is active on multiple boards and panels, as well as in her frequent engagement for Women in STEM. Lisa co-founded the Nature Inspiring Women in Science awards for Scientific Achievement and Science Outreach, in partnership with the editor-in-chief of Nature Magazine. These preeminent global awards are in their tenth year, receiving hundreds of applications annually from over 90 countries. She served on the Springer Nature’s US Research Advisory Council. Additionally, she actively speaks on enabling women in both science & engineering and the role diversity plays in driving innovation. She is an active mentor to many senior leaders, professionals and students. Lisa served three terms on the Clarkson University Board of Trustees, including as Vice-Chair of Academic Affairs, and she led the Research Sub-Committee of the board. Lisa is chair-elect for the Society of Women Engineers Global Awards & Recognition effort and is an American Chemical Society and Cosmetic Executive Women member. She graduated from Clarkson University in biochemical engineering.