2026 Alumni Service Award
Lisa Salley is a nationally-recognized thought leader, innovator and strategist at heart who has used her business acumen and expertise to support the Carnegie Mellon community across all levels of the university.
She is recognized for her dedication to the College of Engineering and the Department of Materials Science and Engineering, where her contributions have enriched initiatives and fostered a vibrant alumni community. Her impact was felt during the MSE Graduate Student Symposium in 2022, where she delivered an inspirational keynote address to future machine scientists and engineers.
In addition to her service at the departmental and college level, she has been a repeat guest lecturer, has advised several CMU faculty-led startups and served on the university’s Admission Council for 11 years. Lisa is also an active member of the CMU Black Alumni Association, where she has served in a leadership role and as a reunion volunteer, and is a volunteer for CMU’s Philadelphia Regional Network.
She currently serves on the Department of Materials Science and Engineering’s Alumni Advisory Council and on the College of Engineering’s Dean’s Advocacy Council.
Lisa is a national security thought leader, focusing on the intersection of manufacturing, materials science, recyclability and future workforce. She is the founder of Heritage Solutions Group, a boutique strategic growth consultancy focused on economic development from environmental, social and governance vantage points and commercialization of emerging technologies. She has also spent the past seven years developing a recyclability company built on licensed green chemistry.
Lisa has established a reputation as an entrepreneurial catalyst, talent developer and turnaround leader in the energy industry. She has advised five start-up companies from virtual stage to fully operating, teaches business growth and risk assessment in the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses program and has held global division president jobs at Fortune 50 companies and large product-safety entities. Lisa also founded the energy industry’s Renewables Council during employment at Underwriters’ Laboratories and has served as moderator or panelist on numerous product safety standards and free trade discussions around the world. Her board service includes Arduro, Blacks in Energy, Delaware Valley Industrial Resource Center, a regional manufacturing consortium and the Philadelphia Board of Education.
She has a bachelor’s degree in metallurgical engineering and materials science from Carnegie Mellon and a master’s degree in decision sciences and engineering systems from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.
Carnegie Mellon gave me permission to be relentlessly curious, to challenge what seems inevitable and to turn ideas into action. Receiving this award is humbling. It is also deeply meaningful because it reminds me that the most rewarding measure of an education is not what we accomplish for ourselves, but what we ultimately do with what we have learned to make a difference for generations to come. As James Baldwin reminded us, ‘Not everything that is faced can be changed; but nothing can be changed until it is faced.
Lisa Salley