After a successful 17 year career as a head college women’s soccer coach, Lisa Howe was named the first full-time Executive Director of the Nashville LGBT Chamber of Commerce in February 2012. In the subsequent 5+ years, the Chamber has grown from less than 100 members to over 330 and added a Foundation. The Nashville LGBT Chamber has won 3 national awards for its initiatives and programs that have helped advance LGBT inclusion for its corporate members, helped LGBT business owners grow small businesses and provide local jobs, and helped serve the local, diverse LGBT community. Howe’s title was changed in 2017 from Executive Director to CEO, and she has been recognized by Nashville Lifestyles as one of Nashville’s Top Women in Business and was voted on by her peers as one of the Nashville Business Journal’s Most Admired CEO’s. In March 2016, Mayor Megan Barry appointed Howe to the Metro Sports Authority Board. Lisa married her wife, Wendy, on the first day marriage equality became legal in Tennessee. They have one daughter, Hope, who is 6 years old.