Lisa served as president of the University of Northern Iowa (UNI) Foundation, and vice president for University Advancement at UNI through 2015. Prior to her position at UNI, she served as vice president for Alumni Relations and Development at Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas. She has also served at Vice President for Advancement at the University of North Texas. She has leadership experience at the University of Connecticut Foundation, Wichita State, and the University of Nebraska Foundation. She has more than 20 years of higher education fundraising and management experience, primarily at large public institutions.
While at UNI, Baronio led the efforts that raised more than $85 million dollars and distributed more than $20 million to support the university. She also led a scholarship initiative that exceeded the $40 million goal by $13 million, and met the original goal 19 months ahead of schedule. At the University of North Texas, she led an effort that resulted in a $22M gift to the institution, the largest gift to the university at the time.
She holds an MBA from the University of Nebraska-Omaha and two bachelor’s degrees from the University of Iowa. Lisa is married to Rafael, her husband of 24 years, and together they have two adult children, Stefan, 20, who is a student majoring in Industrial Design at Iowa State University, and Sofia, 19, who is a student at the University of Iowa majoring in Biochemistry.
