Testimonials

I've been fortunate to work with incredibly bright, talented, creative, and empathic folks!

JD Williams

Senior Manager, Product Design

As a Senior Design Director, Lise is not just a steward of design excellence but also a strategic visionary who continuously pushes the boundaries of what’s possible in creating inclusive, accessible, and user-centered experiences.

One of the standout qualities of Lise is her profound knowledge and experience with design systems. She has an incredible ability to create scalable, sustainable systems that empower teams to move quickly while maintaining consistency and quality across products. Under Lise's leadership, design systems are never just about creating components; they are about building a shared language that enables designers and developers to collaborate seamlessly and deliver exceptional user experiences across platforms.

In addition to this technical expertise, Lise has an unwavering commitment to accessibility. She approaches accessibility not as a compliance check but as an integral part of the design process. Whether building from scratch or refining existing products, Lise ensures that inclusivity is woven into every decision—making products accessible to all users, regardless of ability or context.

But what truly sets Lise apart is [his/her/their] ability to coach and mentor other design leaders. Beyond managing projects and processes, she invests deeply in the development of individual designers and design managers. Lise is an exceptional mentor, always willing to offer guidance, challenge assumptions, and provide actionable feedback to help others grow in their careers. She has an extraordinary ability to balance empathy with directness, creating an environment where design leaders feel both supported and empowered to make bold decisions.

If you have the opportunity to work with Lise, consider yourself fortunate. She is the kind of leader who doesn’t just create exceptional products but leaves an indelible impact on the teams and organizations they lead.

Lauren Lucchese Pandel

Sr. Director, Product Design - Analytics & AI

Lise is a brilliant, authentic, big-hearted leader. Beyond her deeply rooted, impressive design systems expertise - which is notable - she is a passionate accessibility advocate and a strong voice for inclusiveness in the product building process. Her extensive experience has granted her deep wisdom and perspective on what it means to lead responsibly in tech. I left every exchange with Lise feeling grateful for exposure to her insightfulness and thoughtfulness. I hope our paths cross again someday!

Alex Thanasenaris

Director of Product Design

Working with Lise at Sprout Social was an incredible experience. She stands out with her exceptional empathy, sharp intelligence, and insightful wisdom. Lise's communication skills and inclusive approach fostered a highly collaborative environment. She forged meaningful partnerships and ensured her team's work was consistently user-focused and aligned with business goals. Lise also played a pivotal role in supporting individual contributors, guiding them through challenging situations and helping them thrive, even in the face of deeply entrenched silos.

I truly hope to have the chance to work with Lise again in the future—I already miss her presence and contributions!

Jimmy Yoon

Staff Product Designer

I've had the pleasure of having Lise as my manager over the past year or so. Her authenticity and empathy created an environment where I felt like I could share anything on my mind. She would always advocate for finding work I was interested in while also telling me to take the time to slow down and rest. Above the work itself, she truly cared about my well-being.

She also brought a wealth of experience in design systems thinking, accessibility, and inclusion. She had so much knowledge to share with our product design team and would consistently remind us to think about users we often don't make the time to think about.

Lise cares about her work but also about the people she works with, and I appreciate the time we spent together.

Gloria Osardu Ph.D.

Senior Director, Global Head of UX Research, Brand, and Consumer Insights

Lise and I worked together in her executive role; leading Design Systems (Design and Engineering teams) at Gusto. While she oversaw Design Systems, I oversaw Product Experience (UX) Research and Insights across Gusto and we worked pretty closely together. From our time working together, I experienced Lise as one of those business executives you want to keep working with just because they are authentic, empathetic, kind, and intentional in their approach and execution.

Lise is a seasoned Design leader in the Saas/B2B software space with extensive experience managing teams/people. I experienced her form strong collaborative partnerships with executive leaders and stakeholders across product, research, engineering, CX, etc. Lise built and socialized a great Design System vision backed with a pragmatic strategy to get there. She worked cross-functionally to garner support, ally-ship, and partnerships to drive her strategy. She built a Design Systems org (managing mangers) that help execute her strategy and successfully deliver against customer needs and business goals.

Lise is a fun peer and executive and of all the things she is able to do, it's the who she is and how she operates that shines brightest. The way she leverages authenticity in her storytelling, clear communication to drive organizational education, and empathy in building trusting relationships is such a masterpiece to observe. I'm glad I get to work with her and see her create magic with Gusto's Design Systems team.

Yolanda Stanton

Senior DEIB Business Partner

Working with Lise at Gusto was a rewarding experience that underscored her commitment to inclusive leadership. As the leader of her organization, she consistently demonstrated openness to thought partnership, creating space for meaningful discussions about bias, equity, and inclusion. Her support was instrumental as we examined critical areas in hiring and performance management to identify both overt and subtle biases. This collaboration was particularly impactful in fostering an environment where diverse perspectives could thrive.

Lise's approach to leadership and openness to DEIB initiatives made a lasting impact on our organization, setting an invaluable example for other leaders to follow. I would highly recommend Lise to any organization looking for an exceptional leader. I am so thankful for the time we worked together!Working with Lise at Gusto was a rewarding experience that underscored her commitment to inclusive leadership. As the leader of her organization, she consistently demonstrated openness to thought partnership, creating space for meaningful discussions about bias, equity, and inclusion. Her support was instrumental as we examined critical areas in hiring and performance management to identify both overt and subtle biases. This collaboration was particularly impactful in fostering an environment where diverse perspectives could thrive. Lise's approach to leadership and openness to DEIB initiatives made a lasting impact on our organization, setting an invaluable example for other leaders to follow. I would highly recommend Lise to any organization looking for an exceptional leader. I am so thankful for the time we worked together!

Guy Jenkins

Head of Design, Media and Entertainment

Lise is one of a kind. Her experience as an engineer is equal to her ability to lead with empathy and kindness while placing her values at the heart of every choice. She helped us navigate constant change in the Salesforce Design System team and consistently delivered release over release while setting a strategy for the future.

Anyone looking for a fantastic front-end leader, look no further.

Jesse Brack

Principal UX Engineer

I had the distinct pleasure of working alongside Lise on the Design Systems team at Salesforce. From day one, Lise was a reliable, critical teammate who provided the team with leadership, knowledge, and empathy. It didn't matter if you reported directly to her or worked on an adjacent team; Lise made herself available to anyone who needed help. Her actions showed that she cared about the folks around her. When teams would get lost in reports and numbers, Lise would gracefully bring an essential human element to each interaction, a crucial but often forgotten step to nurture a vital ingredient: the people behind the numbers.

I watched as Lise pursued opportunities to level herself up. Lise was the first member of our team to enroll and complete Salesforce's internal leadership program. She openly shared her journey with the team and seamlessly used her new skills to help navigate and solve roadblocks. Her actions inspired me to step out of my comfort zone and enroll in the same program. Throughout my time in the program, Lise graciously offered her time to help support my journey in the program and how to apply my newfound skills daily.

Not only could Lise adeptly discuss high-level engineering problems and solutions with key stakeholders, but she is also an excellent engineer who can work within technical areas. Lise directly contributed to the Salesforce Lightning Design System and the critical infrastructure and tooling that keeps everything humming. Additionally, she led projects that helped scale the capacity of our systems and teams to free up resources for innovation. Lise showed a willingness and ability to pivot to new technologies and remain curious and open to learning while not forgetting the lessons learned from past knowledge.

Anyone lucky enough to have the opportunity to work alongside Lise will come out the other side a better version of themself. I'm grateful for the time we got to work together; Lise made me a better teammate, coach, and engineer. I would recommend Lise to any team in a heartbeat.

John Earle

Staff Software Engineer

I would work with Lise again in a heartbeat. Empathetic, organized, communicative, and highly skilled, Lise knows how to lead a team to success. Lise's greatest strengths are her ability to cultivate an energetic, engaged team culture and instill a high sense of psychological safety.

First, Lise is an excellent communicator -- direct but kind. She was able to arbitrate difficult interpersonal situations on our team with ease.

As my manager at Salesforce, Lise always ensured I was working on projects that excited me. She was my (and my teammate's) biggest advocate. Along these lines, Lise pays particularly close attention to team strategy and process. Lise iterated on our team process at Salesforce until it worked for everyone and brought out the best work in each individual. She worked very closely with PMs, designers, researchers, and other engineers, not just on our immediate team, but across the platform team to develop the best product strategy.

Lise's engineering skills are top notch. She contributed an abundance of features and production components to Salesforce's Lightning Design System with a focus on code quality, clarity, and organization. Her domain knowledge is incredibly wide, and her passion is accessibility -- advocating for equality and ensuring our products were usable by all. Moreover, she is an excellent teacher of these skills in those who she mentors.

I can't say enough good things about Lise LaTorre. She would be an excellent leader for any team.

Amarnath Chandana

Lead Software Engineer

Lise is the best manager and mentor I have worked with. She is honest and skilled. She is brilliant at what she does, and the work she delivers will always be of top-notch quality. She provides the right feedback and suggestions to improve.
Lise is great at identifying talented individuals around her. She makes sure her team's well-being is always of top priority and shows her support when it matters.

Lastly, I truly admire her and, given a chance, I don't want to miss the opportunity to work with her again.

James Erb

Director/Manager, Mobile Service Operations

I have worked with Lise for over 10 years now at several different companies. I've brought her back again and again, and have worked with her in almost every place I've worked since 2001. Why? Simply put, she's one of the best UI developers I've worked with during my career.

Most recently, I hired Lise as the lead UI developer for a major replatforming/reskinning effort at Sephora. Lise led a team of 5 developers to build a highly refined, web 2.0 interface that our business is raving about. (Stayed tuned, we launch soon).

Lise always nails the aesthetics and design values exactly; she's a consummate perfectionist. But she is also a technical developer who understands how user interfaces work as complex code systems: she works well with other developers, can design large, scalable UI systems, and understands how to build UI components that integrate with back-end systems and service APIs.

If you're looking to build a best-of-breed, fast, scalable, extensible UI system that looks as sexy as it runs, Lise would be a good catch for your team!

I recommend Lise LaTorre without reservation. Please feel free to contact me directly for details.

Testimonials

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“Lise is not just a steward of design excellence but also a strategic visionary who continuously pushes the boundaries of what’s possible in creating inclusive, accessible, and user-centered experiences."