Rev. Lisa Holton

Rev. Lisa Holton was ordained as an interfaith minister in 2024. Most recently she served as a Community Minister at Judson Memorial Church from Fall 2024 to Spring 2026.

Holton serves as Board Chair of Judson Commons, a 501c3 supporting arts and justice cross-movement pollination at Judson.  In her role, she partners with artists and organizers to raise funds, gather resources, and create a welcoming, free and uncensored space for risk-taking art and strategic campaigns.

Prior to entering seminary, Lisa was the executive director of an educational nonprofit and a faculty member at the Institute for Nonprofit Practice. She was also one of the original co-facilitators of the Women's Leadership Council, a peer support group which grew to include over 90+ women and nonbinary executive directors. She has served as a board member of the New York Women’s Foundation, the Feminist Press, First Book, and the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art.

Lisa’s first career was in children’s books, where she experienced the joy of creative collaboration. As Senior Vice President of Disney’s Global Children’s Book Division, she led Hyperion Books for Children and co-founded Jump at the Sun, one of the first African-American children’s book imprints. She was fortunate to learn many lessons–in publishing and in life–from an extraordinary group of authors and illustrators including Maurice Sendak, Eric Carle, Walter Dean Myers and bell hooks. She then became President of Scholastic’s Trade and Book Fair divisions where she published The 39 Clues, The Invention of Hugo Cabret, and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. 

A late-blooming lesbian with multiple careers, Lisa believes it is never too late to start another chapter. She is the proud mother of two children, James and Kate.