Conversations with Women of Distinction - Lisa Raiola

November 20, 2025 9:00 AM - 10:30 AM (EST)

Description

At this 7-part series of fireside chats with a local Woman of Distinction and Chamber President & CEO, Erin Donovan-Boyle, guests will hear a 20 - 30-minute conversation and have the opportunity to ask questions of the guest while enjoying a continental breakfast. Following Q&A, guests are welcome to stay and network!

November Woman of Distinction: Lisa Raiola, President & Founder, Hope & Main

Lisa Raiola is the founder of Hope & Main, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit launched in 2014 with a mission to empower an inclusive community of entrepreneurs to jumpstart and grow thriving food businesses—the foundation of a more just, sustainable, and resilient food future for Rhode Island. Hope & Main provides affordable shared-use commercial kitchens, food business and technical assistance, access to markets, and connections to funding and financing. Over the past decade, the organization has launched more than 500 food businesses—60% woman-owned and 45% founded by entrepreneurs of color. As an engine of economic development, Hope & Main has created thousands of jobs and infused tens of millions of dollars into the local food economy.

Lisa brings more than 30 years of experience in innovative program leadership, advancement, and business development across nonprofit, higher education, and healthcare sectors. Her work centers on distributive justice, economic mobility, sustainable social responsibility, and equity-focused development that builds generational wealth.

She teaches Nutrition & Public Health at Roger Williams University, where she also serves as a Trustee. Prior to RWU, Lisa was Vice President at Brown University and a Clinical Assistant Professor of Community Health and Medical Ethics at the Warren Alpert School of Medicine. She spent nine years with Harvard Pilgrim Health Care in Brookline, MA, where she served as Vice President for Organizational Development and created the nation’s first Ethics Program in Managed Care.

Lisa’s work lives at the intersection of moral imagination, civic infrastructure, and transformative hope. She listens for what systems silence and lifts what mainstream agendas often bury. She serves on numerous boards, including the Specialty Food Association Foundation and the Rhode Island Center for Justice, and is a founding board member of Local Return, home to Rhode Island’s first diversified community investment cooperative.

In 2024, Lisa was named USA Today’s Woman of the Year for Rhode Island and received the Christiana Carteaux Bannister Award from the Rhode Island Foundation for her trailblazing leadership in economic mobility and equity.

She lives in Bristol, RI, where she celebrates her most important roles as mother to three accomplished children and two mischievous grandpeople. She believes deeply in the power of local food to build thriving communities—and yes, she really loves pie.