Meet Collaborative Solutions Founder, Emily Lesh
Emily Lesh is a social entrepreneur and change-maker. She has over 20 years of experience leading people and groups through processes to achieve big visions, with concrete results.
Get to know Emily:
1. Grew up in Kentucky, the great-great-granddaughter, great-granddaughter, and granddaughter of Kentucky country store owners
2. Life partner & mother of two kids! (& one pandemic puppy & eight chickens)
3. Dyslexic learner, mother and sister of dyslexic learners
4. Placed second two years in a row at the Junior National Rowing Championships
5. Borrowed her mother’s car phone & road-tripped across the country at 19
6. Loves volunteering to teach kids how to ski at her community ski hill, Cochran’s
7. Bad habit of falling asleep during good movies
8. Traveled down the Mekong River in Laos and Thailand with chickens going to market
9. Grounded in the Green Mountains of Vermont, her home
10. Often found skiing, biking, hiking, and adventuring
Independent Consultant since 2016
Coached over a dozen regional teams of CEOs, community non-profit leaders, and government agencies in Colorado, Illinois, Nebraska, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, through the launch of community-supported, industry-led partnerships that resulted in overall community and economic prosperity.
Advised and facilitated state governments through processes to foster interagency alignment across education, workforce development, and economic development systems in Colorado, Iowa, Louisiana, Nebraska, Pennsylvania, and South Carolina.
Developed and delivered customized training (in-person and virtual) for diverse groups of state and local leaders from workforce development, education, economic development agencies, and organizations in nine states.
Launched the Next Generation Sector Partnership community of practice with a team of independent consultants who developed and scaled the model for building business-led, and community-supported partnerships for collective impact.
Curated and executed several national in-person and virtual convenings, including event project management, agenda design, and delivery of Next Gen Sector Partnership trainings for a national audience of over 400.
Colorado Workforce Development Council’s Assistant Director (2011-2016)
Built powerful interagency coalitions across the Department of Labor and Employment, the Department of Education, the Department of Economic Development, in order to ensure Coloradoans access to education and training pathways that lead to strong careers, and prosperous lives.
Designed and managed the implementation of a $1 million green job grant program resulting in Coloradoan’s obtaining skills training and accessing meaningful jobs throughout the green sector.
Managed major organizational change processes and co-led a team that established an innovative and collaborative team culture and structure within the Colorado state government.
Forged policy solutions and advanced legislative agenda with the state legislature and stakeholders resulting in increased alignment across education, training, workforce, economic development, and the private sector.
Other Notable Roles
Organized national forums to foster collaboration between state legislators, public, and private partners; researched and wrote environmental policy briefings for state legislators at the National Conference of State Legislatures.
Coordinated and managed a project for a five-member research team commissioned by NOAA to describe and assess the collaborative management of endangered species in the Puget Sound region as a Project Manager for the William D. Ruckelshaus Center at the University of Washington.
Developed and implemented strategic campaign plans for a variety of local and national environmental issues including wilderness/wild and scenic rivers, conservation of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, climate change, and energy as a field organizer.
Organized volunteers in a variety of capacities— from lobbying trips to Washington D.C., letter-writing campaigns, and community events. Emily even organized educational whitewater rafting trips with local elected officials on the Kings River in California.
Education & Professional Development:
Emily holds a Bachelor’s degree from Connecticut College in Environmental Studies and a Master's of Public Administration from the University of Washington's Daniel J. Evans School of Public Affairs.
Emily has completed several professional development courses on facilitation, grant writing, and project management.
Most recently, Emily participated in The Giving Project’s 2020 leadership training program focused on collective giving and providing entry points to philanthropy for all people.