Lisa Orr has lived in Frederick County since 1996. Her passions include addressing our climate emergency, and protecting the natural resources upon which we all depend through roadside clean-ups, energy conservation, renewable energy, soil health advocacy, food waste reduction, and composting.

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Lisa’s career path has traced her civic and social evolution starting with a passion for rocks, then computers, on to people, then planet. Over 12 years, she worked as a geologist, Systems Analyst and Computer Resources Manager for the Texas Bureau of Economic Geology. After working in IT at Virginia Tech for 5 years, she moved to Maryland and became the Marketing and Volunteer Center Director for the United Way of Frederick County. She launched Volunteer Frederick as an independent nonprofit, served 10 years as Executive Director, and created signature programs such as the SummerServe youth service program and The BIG Sweep county-wide clean-up. Lisa served as Frederick County’s Sustainability Program Coordinator from 2010 to 2018 where she developed the Green Homes Challenge and implemented residential energy conservation and solar programs such as Power Saver Retrofits and Solarize Frederick County. Most recently, Lisa served as Executive Director of Mountainside Education and Enrichment where she helped implement a campus greening plan for Bar-T Mountainside in Urbana, and the Lunch Out of Landfills school lunch waste sorting and composting initiative. Lisa earned a graduate Certificate in Nonprofit Management from Case Western Reserve University and a Masters in Geology from the University of Texas at Austin. 

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Lisa served on Frederick County’s inaugural Sustainability Commission and now serves with the Frederick Compost Workgroup and on the board of Mountainside Education and Enrichment. She is a co-founder and steering committee member of the Frederick County Food Council and helped launch Farm to School Frederick with a federal grant. Lisa also served on the Climate Emergency Mobilization Workgroup and on its Agriculture, Forestry, Food and Land Management subcommittee. She currently serves as Chair of Mobilize Frederick’s Community Outreach and Communications Committee. Lisa volunteers with the Refugee Welcoming Coalition of Frederick, helps out with tree plantings each year, and has led an Adopt-a-Road team in Burkittsville since 2010.