Anna-Lisa Miller is the founding Executive Director of Ownership Works. She is responsible for the organization’s strategy, key partnerships, growth, and overall impact. With a career deeply rooted in expanding shared ownership, advancing racial equity, and driving systemic change, Anna-Lisa is a recognized leader in the nonprofit sector. She brings extensive experience in building organizations, designing impactful programs, and forging partnerships that deliver lasting social and economic benefits to communities.
Before founding Ownership Works, Anna-Lisa served as Development Director at Project Equity, where she championed employee ownership as a transformative tool for local businesses and communities. Prior to that, she was the Chief Operating Officer of The Kohala Center, a sustainable development organization in Hawaii. There, she led diverse teams across initiatives ranging from shared ownership models to watershed restoration. Her leadership extended to serving on the Executive Committee of Hawaii’s Lieutenant Governor’s Farm to School Program, earning recognition from the Hawaii State Senate for her contributions.
Anna-Lisa began her professional journey as a corporate attorney with Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison, practicing corporate and public finance law in New York City, Chicago, and Washington, D.C. After five years in the legal field, she transitioned to the nonprofit sector in 2014, driven by her passion for creating opportunities that uplift workers and families.
Anna-Lisa was named as one of the top 10 business leaders who spearheaded industry-transforming change in 2024 by Business Insider. She is currently an appointed 2024-2025 class Visiting Executive Fellow for the Institute for the Study of Employee Ownership and Profit Sharing at the Rutgers School of Management and Labor Relations.