Elevating Leadership, Culture, and Relationships Through Intentional Connection
Inspiring clarity, trust, and purpose in organizational relationships.
BETTER RESULTS START with BETTER CONNECTION
Lisa Z. Fain helps people rethink how growth, leadership, and performance really happen: not through talent alone, and not through mentoring by chance, but through purposeful relationships that expand judgment, unlock opportunity, and strengthen impact.
Her keynotes move beyond traditional mentoring to show audiences how to build developmental networks, connect across difference, and take ownership of their own growth. That individual shift becomes organizational advantage: stronger leaders, wiser decisions, deeper trust, and better results from the talent already in the room.
About Lisa Z. Fain
Lisa Z. Fain is the CEO of the Center for Mentoring Excellence and a seasoned speaker on mentoring, leadership, connection, and culture. She draws on decades of mentoring design, coaching experience, and strategic facilitation to deliver talks that are deeply human, immediately practical, and subtly inclusive.
Rather than offering a rigid model, Lisa shares her approach, a way of designing relationships, conversations, and mentoring systems that build trust, cultivate growth, and enable everyone to contribute fully. Audiences walk away with clear vision, actionable tools, and a renewed sense of possibility.
“Mentoring is a learning relationship. We must always be learning to grow, and always be connecting to learn.”
Beyond Mentoring: Better Judgment, Growth & Impact in a Complex World
For decades, professionals have been told that success comes from excellence, hard work, and independence. Yet organizations everywhere are discovering a paradox: even highly capable people can remain underutilized, disconnected, and unsure how to grow.
In this engaging and thought-provoking keynote, Lisa Z. Fain challenges the myth that excellence alone drives career success. Drawing on decades of experience, research on developmental networks, and stories from the workplace, she reveals why growth and leadership development depend on something deeper: intentionally designed ecosystems of learning and connection.
Bridging Differences for Better Mentoring
Moving beyond surface-level inclusion, this session shows how to craft mentoring relationships that elevate varied voices, strengthen psychological safety, and fuel mutual growth.
“Lisa is a master speaker and presenter. We were able to launch a speaker series that built buy-in and awareness across the organization.Thank you for your leadership and partnership.”
— Matthew Gill, Formerly Head of Diversity Strategy, Charles Schwab
BEHIND THE SCENES SUPPORT
Meet Michelle Hancock
Every great event needs a calm, capable partner behind the scenes – meet Michelle, the one who makes it all happen.
It all started in 1997 when Michelle Hancock joined the Center for Mentoring Excellence in its earliest days, working alongside founder Lois Zachary as she brought a vision of organizational mentoring excellence into reality.
Interested in going deeper?
Many organizations invite Lisa to speak as the starting point for broader work around mentoring, leadership development, and learning ecosystems.
Through the Center for Mentoring Excellence, Lisa and her team partner with organizations to design mentoring ecosystems, strengthen developmental networks, and support leaders through advisory and executive coaching.
