Lissa Johnson

Lissa Johnson

Director of Administration, Center for Social Development

Lissa Johnson is Director of Administration at the Center for Social Development (CSD) and adjunct professor at the Brown School of Social Work, Washington University in St. Louis. She manages CSD’s finances and operations as well as research projects in the areas of asset building and civic service with a particular focus on youth. She led the YouthSave Savings Demand Assessment in Colombia, Ghana, Kenya and Nepal. She also led the design and rollout of the first commercially available Management Information System for Individual Development Accounts (MIS IDA). Current research includes assessing financial capability and asset building content taught by social work faculty.

Ms. Johnson is also Director of Policy Initiatives for the national Grand Challenges for Social Work, sponsored by the American Academy of Social Work and Social Welfare. On the grand challenge to “Create social responses to a changing environment,” she has facilitated partnerships with multiple Washington University departments, including the Office of Sustainability and InCEES, to address social justice issues related to climate change and other environmental changes.