Lisa Michelle Borders (born November 25, 1957) is the former president and chief executive officer of Time's Up and former president of the

Women's National Basketball Association The Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) is a women's professional basketball league in the United States. The league comprises 13 teams (scheduled to expand to 15 in 2026). The WNBA is headquartered in Midtown Manhattan. The WNBA w ...

(WNBA).

Early life and education

Lisa Borders was born on November 25th in 1957 in

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...

. She attended

Atlanta Public Schools Atlanta Public Schools (APS) is a school district based in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. It is run by the Atlanta Board of Education with Superintendent Dr. Bryan Johnson. The system has an active enrollment of 54,956 students, attending ...

, and later

The Westminster Schools The Westminster Schools is a Kindergarten–12 private school in Atlanta, Georgia, United States, founded in 1951. History Westminster originated in 1951 as a reorganization of Atlanta's North Avenue Presbyterian School (NAPS), a girls' school ...

in 1965 after her parents wanted a more academically challenging environment for her. At Westminster, she was one of seven African-American students on campus and fellow students were often hostile. Borders is the granddaughter of civil rights leader Rev. William Holmes Borders, pastor of Atlanta's Wheat Street Baptist Church. Borders obtained a bachelor's degree from

Duke University Duke University is a Private university, private research university in Durham, North Carolina, United States. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present-day city of Trinity, North Carolina, Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1 ...

and a Masters of Science in health administration from the

University of Colorado The University of Colorado (CU) is a system of public universities in Colorado. It consists of four institutions: the University of Colorado Boulder, the University of Colorado Colorado Springs, the University of Colorado Denver, and the U ...

. She serves on the Duke University Board of Trustees. As an undergraduate, she joined

Alpha Kappa Alpha Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. () is an List of African American fraternities, historically African-American Fraternities and sororities, sorority. The sorority was founded in 1908 at Howard University in Washington, D.C.. Alpha Kappa Alpha ...

sorority.

Career

Borders was the president of the Henry W. Grady Health System Foundation where she led a five-year $325 million capital campaign before serving with the Atlanta city council. From 2004 to 2010, she was president of the

Atlanta City Council The Atlanta City Council (formerly the Atlanta Board of Aldermen until 1974) is the main municipal legislative body for the city of Atlanta, Georgia, United States. It consists of 16 members: the council president, twelve members elected from di ...

of Atlanta, Georgia, having been elected at-large in an August 10, 2004

special election A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, or a bypoll in India, is an election used to fill an office that has become vacant between general elections. A vacancy may arise as a result of an incumben ...

, her first run for public office. Her duties included presiding over and maintaining relationships with the city government. She was a candidate for mayor of Atlanta in

2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...

. On November 11, 2009, Borders endorsed mayoral candidate

Kasim Reed Mohammed Kasim Reed (born June 10, 1969) is an American lawyer and politician who served as the 59th List of mayors of Atlanta, mayor of Atlanta, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia's state capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), ...

for the runoff election, occurring between Reed and Mary Norwood on December 1, 2009. Borders was succeeded in office by

Ceasar Mitchell Ceasar C. Mitchell (born 1968), is an American politician and attorney who served as President of Atlanta City Council from 2010 to 2018. He was an unsuccessful candidate in the 2017 Atlanta mayoral election. Early life and education Mitchell is ...

. In 2010, Borders became a founding leader of

No Labels No Labels is an Politics of the United States, American political organization whose stated mission is to support centrism and Bipartisanship in United States politics, bipartisanship through what it calls the "commonsense majority". No Labels w ...

, a

501(c)(4) A 501(c) organization is a nonprofit organization in the Law of the United States#Federal law, federal law of the United States according to Internal Revenue Code (26 U.S.C. § 501(c)). Such organizations are exempt from some Taxation in the Un ...

citizens movement of Republicans, Democrats and Independents whose mission is to address the politics of problem solving. Borders was the vice president of global community affairs at

The Coca-Cola Company The Coca-Cola Company is an American multinational corporation founded in 1892. It manufactures, sells and markets soft drinks including Coca-Cola, other non-alcoholic beverage concentrates and syrups, and alcoholic beverages. Its stock is lis ...

before becoming the fourth president of the

(WNBA) on February 10, 2016. As president, she established live streaming games on Twitter and launched the WNBA's one-day fantasy game. In 2017, the league recorded its highest attendance rate and the season was its most-watched in four years. She also served as the league's public face, hosting press conferences and doing a variety of interviews. In October 2018, Borders left the league to become the first president and

chief executive officer A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a chief executive or managing director, is the top-ranking corporate officer charged with the management of an organization, usually a company or a nonprofit organization. CEOs find roles in variou ...

of Time's Up. In February 2019, she abruptly left her position at Time's Up due to sexual misconduct accusations against her son.

Recognition

In 2018, Borders was named by

People magazine ''People'' is an American weekly magazine that specializes in celebrity news and human-interest stories. It is published by Dotdash Meredith, a subsidiary of IAC (company), IAC. With a readership of 46.6 million adults in 2009, ''Peopl ...

as one of their 25 Women Changing the World.

References

External links

WNBA biography
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Borders, Lisa African-American city council members in Georgia (U.S. state) American women sports executives and administrators Atlanta City Council members Duke University alumni Living people 21st-century African-American women politicians 21st-century American women politicians Women city councillors in Georgia (U.S. state) Women's National Basketball Association commissioners Women basketball executives The Westminster Schools alumni Year of birth missing (living people) 21st-century African-American politicians