First earning a degree in business administration and management from Georgia State University in 1991, Lisa S. Edmondson began her career with National Vision Associates, falling into the role of training coordinator and manager quite accidentally in 1994. She remained in this role until 2001, during which time she achieved certifications from the American Board of Opticianry and National Contact Lens Examiners. From 2001 to 2011, she was the principal curriculum designer for Coca-Cola Enterprises Inc. and continued her professional growth with certificates from ID9 Intelligent Design, IBM, Auburn University, MyInnerGenius and more. Ms. Edmondson then spent time as the director of curriculum development and certification for Infor from 2011 to 2021.
Holding considerable expertise in leadership and helping corporate executives and leaders develop “people first” skills, Ms. Edmondson founded Leadership Reno LLC in 2022 to help champion leadership reform. Through Leadership Reno, she offers a variety of services ranging from curriculum development to instructional design, all with a focus on learning and development. Over the course of her career, she has been incredibly proud to see what the people she has trained have been able to accomplish following her training programs, and notes that a particular achievement of hers was a program she developed for corporate leaders at Coca-Cola Enterprises.
Ms. Edmondson attributes much of her success to the mentorship she received throughout her career, along with the experience she has gained from her various positions. Furthermore, she has conducted a vast amount of independent study to further her skills in leadership and credits her strategic point of view for helping her to come up with effective solutions to a wide range of complex problems. Gratified to have served as a mentor to others, Ms. Edmondson feels that her approach to leadership and employee engagement speaks for itself, noting that there have been drastic drops in employee turnover among the companies she has worked with.
Looking toward the future, Ms. Edmondson intends to continue on in her work and hopes to reach even more leaders in corporate America in order to help fight back against toxic workplace environments. To that end, she maintains professional affiliation with the Association for Talent Development in an effort to remain up to date with developments in her field. For her excellence, Ms. Edmondson was previously recognized as a national finalist by The Vision Awards and National Vision Associates for her role as the director and producer of a sales training video program for opticians.
