Lisa Shufro

Downtown Las Vegas

Originally captivating audiences as a classical violinist, she has always pursued many worlds. While performing and teaching professionally for 20 years, Lisa supported her ‘music habit’ as a marketer, inventor and business executive for Synapse Group, a subsidiary of Time Warner, and Walker Digital, a business invention firm.

After recovering from a serious injury, Lisa chose to become health educator in biomechanics, behavioral change, and the the healing power of movement. As faculty at the Feldenkrais Institute of New York, she helped acrobats recover from falls, musicians to sing, swimmers to breathe, children with severe motor development delays to dance, and people with injured knees to finish their first 5Ks.

Eventually Lisa’s passion for health and human potential led her to become the Managing Editor and Producer of TEDMED. There she led TEDMED’s efforts to select and prepare presenters for its extensive annual stage program, as well as hosting the global broadcast from the Opera House of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington DC. In 2014, Disruptive Women in Health Care named Lisa one of its inaugural class of ‘Women to Watch.’

Lisa recently moved to Las Vegas to join the Downtown Project as their official ‘Magical Awesomeness Catalyst.’ Downtown Project, started by Zappos’ CEO Tony Hsieh, is a $350 million dollar effort to help make Downtown Las Vegas the most community-focused large city in the world. Downtown Project focuses on early stage investments curated for their potential to help make Las Vegas a hub of Inspiration, Entrepreneurial Energy, Creativity, Innovation, Upward Mobility and Discovery.

Currently Lisa leads Downtown Project’s efforts to practice a new management structure called Holacracy. This social technology is designed to empower individuals and companies to be self-organizing rather than managed by traditional top-down models. Additionally, as Curator for Inspire Theater and the Life is Beautiful Festival, Lisa uses every ounce of her creative mojo to turbo- boost co-learning across disciplines, ideas, and communities.

  • Work
    • Downtown Project