Lise Olney was appointed to the Commission by Speaker Ronald Mariano in November 2025. She was honored by the Commission as a Commonwealth Heroine in 2025, nominated by Representative Alice Peisch. Lise is a former member and chair of the Wellesley Select Board on which she served for six years. She founded and continues to run the Wellesley Civil Discourse Initiative, which organizes and facilitates community dialogues. She also currently serves as the chair of the Town of Wellesley’s Climate Action Committee and is a member of the Wellesley DEI Task Force and the Wellesley Freedom Team. Lise has been an elected Town Meeting Member since 2014 and was an elected member of the Wellesley Natural Resources Commission from 2014 to 2019. She served on the 2024 steering committee of the Women Elected Municipal Officials within the Mass Municipal Association and was a member of the Emerge Massachusetts class of 2019. Originally from Washington, D.C., Lise lives with her husband in Wellesley — his hometown — where they raised their two daughters.