Lisa Cuestas is currently Chief Executive Officer of Casa Familiar, a 501(c)(3) non-profit community-based organization in San Ysidro, CA. Lisa has worked for Casa Familiar for 20 years and nearly 25 years of experience in the non-profit sector. She is the embodiment of an emerging Latina leader. She is a Fronteriza – raised along the U.S./Mexico border. Her mother is from Ciudad Juarez and her father from Tucson, Arizona. Lisa’s parents and grandparents imparted on her the importance of community and the notion of rising by uplifting others, which are the values she and her husband are now passing along to their own children. Lisa has committed her life in service to her communities and this trajectory has led to becoming the Chief Executive Officer for Casa Familiar (Casa), a community service and development agency dedicated to ensuring residents of San Ysidro and the South Bay have a leading role in all aspects of the development and sustainability of their community.

As Casa Familiar’s Chief Executive Officer, Lisa oversees an annual budget of $5.0M+ with a growing portfolio of 1,300 affordable housing units in San Diego’s South Bay. Under her leadership, Casa Familiar secured $10 million of New Markets Tax Credit Financing in 2018 for its Living Rooms at the Border project completed in February of 2020 which is a 13,469 square- foot mixed-use project in San Ysidro, a predominantly Latino community in the City of San Diego. Also in 2018, Senator Hueso recognized Casa Familiar as the 40th District Non-Profit of the Year.

Lisa holds a bachelor’s degree in Human Services and Management from the University of Phoenix.