Lisha C. Davis

Lisha Davis is currently the founder of Arable Ventures, an innovation & venture strategy advisory firm based in New York City.  Over the years, her firm has advised numerous CEOs, Chief Innovation Officers, Chief Strategy Officers, and Venture and Growth Boards across various industries, sectors and countries, to transform their organizations and institute capabilities to innovate at scale, with efficiency and sustainability.  The Arable iOS (innovation operating system) is a proven and effective model to custom create the infrastructure, mindset, culture, and skills which delivers growth oriented outcomes from near to longer term. Prior to launching Arable Ventures, Lisha served as the founder and CEO of Vanguard’s Innovation Studio, where she was responsible for identifying white spaces with the power to disrupt and for building successful ventures and placing strategic bets to fill those spaces. 

Lisha began her career in the financial services and wealth management industry, serving as a leading advisor in both New York and Los Angeles, often working with international clients and professional athletes.  Over time she transitioned into corporate executive roles, leading business strategy teams, business units, sales territories, client experience groups, and introducing new ways of working utilizing the best of startup techniques and corporate intrapreneurship.  She has led successful turnarounds operations, growth of existing businesses, overseen transformations, and has received numerous industry awards and accolades.   

Ultimately, Lisha is most passionate about people and their professional development.  She is also the founder of a future of work startup called Pave, aimed at helping mid-career plus professionals figure out how to elevate in their existing careers or identify & transition into their next career.  She serves as an angel investor with 37Angels, an early growth stage women syndicate focused on increasing representation of diverse founders and funders, a venture partner at VU Venture Partners, and serves as mentor and advisor to startups in conjunction with TechStars, ERA, and other prominent accelerator programs. As an educator, Lisha serves as an adjunct professor at Temple’s Fox School of Business, teaching an MBA course on Open Innovation & Strategic Partnerships. Lisha currently resides in NYC and Spain.