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Lisa has worked in preservation since 1972, beginning as a Museum Technician at the Ranching Heritage Center in Lubbock, Texas. In 1977, she received a Bachelor of Architecture degree from Texas Tech University, completing as a thesis project, a Historic Structures Report and restoration plan for a post-1680 houserow at Tesuque Pueblo, New Mexico. From 1979-1984 she was employed as a Historical Architect on the Northeast Team of the Denver Service Center, the centralized planning and design office of the National Park Service. In 1984, she became the first woman to enter the National Park Service preservation trades training program at the Williamsport Preservation Training Center in Williamsport, Maryland. After completing the trades apprenticeship program, she remained on the Training Center staff as a Supervisory Preservation Specialist and Senior Historical Architect. In 1993, she became the Assistant Chief Historical Architect for the National Park Service in Washington, D.C. From 1996-2006, she worked as a Project Manager with the National Park Service, Northeast Region, Architectural Preservation Division, in Lowell, Massachusetts. She is currently on the staff of the Northeast Region Planning, Construction and Facility Maintenance Directorate.

Project work has included; planning and project supervision for stabilization of hospital structures on the south side of Ellis Island, project management for the rehabilitation of the entry level of the Washington Monument, and work on dozens of 18th-20th century structures in National Parks in the Mid-Atlantic states and New England. She has also worked with the Forest Service in the Pacific Northwest to preserve CCC-era rustic log structures, and encourage the development of in-house preservation teams. Since 1987, she has helped to develop training programs, and instructed workshops in preservation philosophy and "hands on" preservation methods for federal agencies, universities, and state and local groups. Publications include the articles What Historical Architects Can Learn from the Preservation Trades – and Why They Should, New Paradigms for Preserving Old Buildings, and Setting Up a Preservation Workshop in the journal CRM. In 2001, Lisa received the Askins Achievement Award, presented annually by the Preservation Trades Network for significant contributions to the preservation trades.