Lisa Olson, PhD

With 30 years of managerial experience in both the non-profit and for-profit market sectors, Lisa is the Founder and CEO of the aha Group, a consulting firm that she launched in 1999 and maintained intermittently to date. The aha Group provides strategic marketing, market research, development, project management and business planning services to clients advancing healthcare agendas. Our clients have included the American College of Cardiology; American Society of Addiction Medicine; WomenHeart; Heart Rhythm Society; MedNet Solutions; The George Washington University Medical Center; and others.

Most recently, Lisa served as Executive Director for the Society for Cardiovascular Angiography and Interventions. There she engineered a successful strategic planning process. She also reorganized financial processes and statements to ensure more frequent reporting and transparency of financial status.

Lisa also served as Executive Director of the Heart & Vascular Institute at George Washington University where she was responsible for its day-to-day management, board expansion, research administration and fundraising to support the Institute’s mission to advance cardiovascular research, education and community outreach. She successfully expanded GW’s community outreach efforts in DC, creating innovative programs to reach under-served populations.

Lisa has extensive leadership experience with cardiovascular non-profit organizations to include serving as the founding Executive Director of the Heart Rhythm Foundation. She was the Associate Executive Vice President for the American College of Cardiology for nine years. Lisa also served as the chief operating officer for C.L. McIntosh, a medical and regulatory affairs consulting firm and contract research organization.

Lisa holds a B.S. in marketing from Arizona State University, an MBA in the management of technology and science, and a PhD in business from The George Washington University. Since 1993 she has held several adjunct faculty positions, to include the Johns Hopkins University’s Business of Medicine program..