May
26
2022
From The Blog
Meet Your Board Director Lisa Mascolo
“As the new director this year, I joined with a sense of optimism and curiosity about the workings of the board in the face of some very important issues. Since joining, it’s been clear that our intent is to work together and have substantive discussions about issues that impact the KICA community. That intention is being fulfilled through action – open board meetings, balanced conversations, respectful listening. Ensuring that we engage in important conversations in an atmosphere of respect is critical to fulfilling our duty to the membership. In that spirit, Brad McIlvain and I are going to work together on the Board Outreach and Education Committee. I’m looking forward to facilitating the election process this year for board member candidates and for the membership at large.
We are all concerned about development and the implications of development and the board is united in its intention to work in a collegial manner with our other Kiawah Island partners and stakeholders to address these issues.”
My Kiawah Ownership Story
My husband’s family has owned property on and been coming to Kiawah since the 1970s. They were tennis players and golfers and that’s how they first discovered the island. I was introduced to Kiawah in 1997 by my husband and we bought our first property in 2001. We both enjoy outdoor activity. He is a passionate golfer; I’m an avid amateur photographer and committed bird watcher. We both wanted to build a home that we would love and live in, that would be a destination for our friends and family, that would become a legacy for our family and their families. We never had any doubt about owning property, building a home and living on Kiawah full time. For us, it was the natural fulfillment of all of the things we love to do together – design and build, host friends and family, enjoy each others’ company in a beautiful setting, close to a cultural center and not too close. Our oldest son and daughter-in-law have recently relocated to Charleston. Todd’s mother lives in Inlet Cove and we are in the process of building a cottage for my mother and expect to move her here next spring. For us, Kiawah is a family affair. My husband and I are committed supporters of local artists and the MUSC Hollings Cancer Center.
My Relevant Experience
I am a founding board member of a forprofit start-up called Quotabelle which focuses on telling the story of women and girls from around the world. I am on the Board of Advisors for a non-profit start-up called EWAAB – Encouraging Women Across All Borders – focused on connecting global university-level women with professional mentors. I served on the St. Albans School of Public Service Board, the Board of Grace Episcopal Day school as the Director of Development, and as a director of the DC Chapter of Dress for Success. I currently serve on the Board of Washington MedStar Hospital Center in DC on the Governance and Nomination Committee. I serve on the Board of Trustees of Stevens Institute of Technology as vice chair of Nomination and Governance, as a member of Alumni & Development, and as a member of the HR committee, which I previously chaired. I serve on the board of Aarete, a professional services firm focused on Healthcare consulting and IT consulting, based in Chicago. I currently serve as a member of the KICA Finance Committee and as a member of the KICA Preserve Landscape Standards working group.
My corporate experience covers C-suite leadership, strategy, management, operations, finance, and governance. As a founding Accenture partner, I led a global $2 billion business. I was the CEO of a small business and the founder of my own small business. At IBM, I led a $1.8 billion US IT business. I am adept at listening and learning across cultures, building consensus around and including diverse points of view. I am firmly committed to the idea and the fact that diverse thinking drives even better outcomes.
My Focus
I’M RUNNING because KICA is a key component of the governance system that is charged with preserving, protecting and enhancing the place that my family and I love. The important issues KICA and its members face and must address in order to preserve, protect and enhance our investments require intentional and thoughtful strategy and leadership. I believe my professional experiences, my personal commitment to listening and learning and being broadly inclusive, will be an asset to the community through Board service.
I’M MOTIVATED TO RUN because my professional and philanthropic skills and experience will be an asset to the Board and the KICA membership in dealing with the important, substantive issues that we face as members of KICA. I am committed to the practice of servant leadership. The leader must be about serving the interests of the community and is charged with doing well and doing good on behalf of the community – always – not just when or if discharging those responsibilities lines up with his or her personal point of view.
THE KEY ISSUES FACING the community, KICA and its board are infrastructure challenges associated with weather and climate change and the infrastructure challenges associated with the increasing ownership and population; the traffic challenges that we already have and the implications of the increased seasonal and potentially permanent population on traffic, traffic management and security; the changing governing entity relationships as the developer entity matures. Broadly across the spectrum of all the issues that the Board, its directors and committees address, sound stewardship, fiscal responsibility, and transparent communication should be what our members expect and receive from the Board, directors and committee members.