McGowan will draw on her long experience fueling systems change as she spearheads LISC’s work to support affordable housing, small businesses, health, education, community safety and jobs throughout the region.
SEATTLE (February 21, 2023)—The Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC) has named Lauren E. McGowan, one of the region’s most experienced nonprofit leaders, as the new executive director of LISC Puget Sound.
McGowan will spearhead a LISC program that has invested more than $1 billion in affordable housing, small businesses, health, education, community safety and jobs throughout Washington over the last 30 years—all with an eye toward breaking down race and class barriers that keep people from reaching their full potential.
“Lauren has deep connections to the Puget Sound community and a remarkable range of experience in developing, implementing, and scaling strategies that help people build a stronger future for their families,” Denise Scott, LISC president, said. “Throughout her career, she has centered racial equity and social justice, focused on expanding economic opportunity, and helped build a more broadly shared prosperity for the region. We are thrilled that she is bringing her passion and expertise to LISC.”
McGowan has spent the bulk of her career at the United Way of King County, most recently as associate vice president for poverty and homelessness. She joined United Way in 2004 as an AmeriCorps VISTA volunteer coordinating the Earned Income Tax Credit campaign and went on to manage the Building Financial Stability program and serve as the senior director for ending poverty and homelessness.
In her various roles, McGowan provided strategic vision to test, pilot, and scale programs and grant making strategies that reduced poverty and homelessness for 35,000 people annually, while also reducing racial disparities.
For example, she led the United Way of King County’s pandemic response by launching a $100 million Community Relief Fund that connected 30,000 families to assistance. To help protect vulnerable renters, she developed eviction prevention and rental assistance programs, including the Home Base initiative—a partnership with the Seattle Mariners and Microsoft that distributed $135 million to 22,000 households. She developed the No Kid Hungry WA Campaign to increase access to healthy school meals, and she led the Bridge to Finish Campaign to increase college persistence and completion rates of 10,000 students by creating service centers at ten colleges.
“Throughout my career I’ve focused on systems building to create change that has lasting benefits for children, families, and local economies,” she said. “That’s what drew me to LISC. Whether collaborating with nonprofit organizations to invest in jobs and small businesses, developing philanthropic partnerships to tackle safety and health, or working with government to address affordable housing, LISC’s work is all targeted to change systems and improve economic mobility. I am so pleased to be a part of it.”
In 2022, McGowan launched Revolution Strategies, a consulting firm that advances equitable solutions to end poverty. In addition to her professional work, McGowan has long volunteered her time in a number of capacities, including serving on the boards of the Seattle Colleges Foundation, The Prosperity Agenda, Springwire National, and Solid Ground, as well as many other taskforces and committees dedicated to advancing access to health, education, housing, and income.
She studied communications management at Emerson College and completed the Nonprofit Executive Leadership Institute at the Evans School of Public Affairs at the University of Washington.
McGowan can be reached at LISC beginning on February 27 at LMcGowan@lisc.org.
About LISC
LISC is one of the country’s largest community development organizations, helping forge vibrant, resilient communities across America. We work with residents and partners to close systemic gaps in health, wealth and opportunity and advance racial equity so that people and places can thrive. Since our founding in 1979, LISC has invested $26.7 billion to create more than 463,000 affordable homes and apartments, develop 78.5 million square feet of retail, community and educational space and help tens of thousands of people find employment and improve their finances.