Lisa Higgins

Lisa Higgins, Chief Operating Officer

Lisa Higgins has led many departments and strategic initiatives since joining APQC in 1993. In her current role she is responsible for the operations and financial success of the Center. She has served on APQC's executive team since 1995.

Before being named chief operating officer in November 2000, Higgins headed APQC's Benchmarking Services and Custom Solutions Group, which used APQC methodologies to provide support and apply proven practices to solve clients’ business problems. She oversaw the delivery of more than 500 benchmarking and best-practice research studies for clients throughout the world.

Higgins’ primary focus throughout her career at APQC has been to assist organizations in building capabilities to support their objectives, including the integration of benchmarking and other continuous improvement tools. She has led numerous benchmarking and best-practice research projects in the area of shared services. She has also worked extensively with clients seeking to implement or improve existing shared service business structures and operating models.

Most recently, Higgins led APQC’s work in the formation of the Open Standards Benchmarking Collaborative^SM (currently Open Standards Benchmarking), which established an open universal standard for processes—the Process Classification Framework^SM (PCF)—and performance metrics to understand those processes. With more than 7,000 participants, our Open Standards Benchmarking database is the world’s largest and most comprehensive database of performance analytics, benchmarks, and best practices.

Higgins has advised on the alignment of organizational objectives using measurement and process improvement strategies throughout the United States, Canada, Europe, and the Pacific Rim. She has authored several APQC publications and articles including APQC’s By the Numbers series that includes topics such as accounting, finance, human resources, logistics, and procurement. She has also contributed to APQC’s Passport series that includes information on benchmarking, leadership, corporate training, and knowledge management.

Higgins is personally committed to assisting organizations in their pursuit of continuous improvement and organizational excellence. She holds a bachelor's degree from the University of Houston and has completed various graduate-level studies throughout her career.

Higgins is proud to have been a board member of the Epilepsy Foundation of Southeast Texas since 2004 and board president for two consecutive terms 2009 – 2010. In addition she serves on the foundation’s national strategic planning committee.