Rev. Lisa Holton

Rev. Lisa Holton serves as a Community Minister at Judson Memorial Church; she was ordained as an interfaith minister in June, 2024. She also serves as an advisor and thought partner to nonprofit leaders.

As the Board Chair of Judson Commons, Lisa partners with artists and activists to raise funds, gather resources, and create a welcoming, free and uncensored space for justice-minded meaning makers.

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 co-facilitators of the Women's Leadership Council, a peer support group which grew to include over 80+ 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 and Publisher 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 at a major publishing house. She was fortunate to learn many lessons–in publishing and in life–from an extraordinary group of authors and illustrators included Maurice Sendak, Rosemary Wells, 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 Gibbel. She lives in Brooklyn N.Y. where she enjoys wandering in Prospect Park and playing pick-up soccer.