Lisa Armstrong

Lisa Armstrong is an innovation and ESG transformation speaker whose work sits at the intersection of ethics, design and organisational change. She is known for helping leaders convert ESG and DEI commitments into actions that reshape products, culture and customer outcomes. Her largest achievement is founding ChewingRice, where she leads global programmes that blend inclusive innovation with ethical decision-making across Europe, Africa, South Asia and North America. Lisa brings a practical, human approach, shaped by more than a decade working with financial institutions, development organisations and cross-functional teams that need new ways to create safe, high performing environments.

Lisa’s early career was rooted in commercial roles that sharpened her understanding of behaviour, communication and product adoption. After completing a BA in Business Law and Marketing at London Metropolitan University, she built experience in brand management, account management and marketing across London and Harare, which gave her early exposure to customer psychology and the mechanics of growth. An Executive Programme in Entrepreneurship and Innovation at the London School of Economics strengthened her strategic and analytical skills. Time spent in Kenya researching micro-SMEs gave her first hand insight into financial inclusion and the realities of underserved groups. 

Her career progressed into senior digital transformation work at Publicis Sapient, where she led multidisciplinary teams across UX, technology and strategy. There Lisa delivered complex repositioning and innovation programmes for major financial services clients, drawing on her ability to translate technical challenges into customer centred solutions. As founder and Principal Director of ChewingRice, she has since designed and delivered inclusive innovation strategies, culture change programmes and capability building for organisations such as Natixis, Swedfund, Proparco, SunFunder and Victoria Commercial Bank. Her influence spans over 50,000 employees impacted globally, 1,000 hours of training delivered and 75 ESG related policy shifts. She also serves as a Keynote Speaker for Google and PMI, a Guest Lecturer for Hyper Island and Instituto Marangoni, a UK Delegate to UN Women CSW66 and CSW67 and the recipient of the WACL Future Leaders Award and Publicis 90 Innovation Grant. These achievements reflect a career centred on measurable impact and ethical innovation at scale.

People book Lisa Armstrong because she offers clarity, practicality and organisational insight grounded in real experience rather than theory. She covers topics that matter to today’s leaders, including ethical innovation, inclusive design, ESG and DEI transformation, behavioural change, culture and conduct, leadership capability and the economics of trust. These themes shape how companies treat customers, support employees and build resilience. When Lisa speaks, she equips audiences with methods they can use immediately, such as ethical design tools, incentive mapping and approaches for aligning culture with intended outcomes. Her sessions help organisations understand how inclusion becomes a source of ideas and growth, how ethics acts as an operating system for innovation and how leaders can build environments where people feel safe to experiment and contribute.