Elizabeth Cisar

Elizabeth Cisar is the Director of the Environment Program at the Joyce Foundation. She leads the Foundation’s grant making to address three of the region’s critical long-term environmental challenges: climate change, the safety and accessibility of the water we drink and the health of the Great Lakes.

From May 2021 through October 2022, during a leave of absence from Joyce, Elizabeth served as Senior Policy Advisor to Radhika Fox, Assistant Administrator for Water at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. In that role, she provided advice on policy and strategy and supported the implementation of Administration priorities in rulemakings, new policy development, and litigation matters.

Before joining Joyce in 2015, Elizabeth was Environment Program Director at the Crown Family Philanthropies, Director of Land Conservation Programs at Grand Victoria Foundation, and the Director of the Great Lakes Office of The Conservation Fund. In those roles, Elizabeth worked with landowners to protect land for hunting, fishing, parks, and recreation and developed voluntary programs to protect clean water. An attorney, Elizabeth also has practiced law in the nonprofit and commercial sectors. She clerked for Judge William J. Bauer on the U.S. 7th Circuit Court of Appeals. Elizabeth holds a J.D., magna cum laude, from Northwestern University, and a B.S. in Marine Science and Biology from the University of Miami.