Dr. Lisa Watson (she/her) joined the Schwartz School of Business as Dean in July 2025. Lisa is a strategic academic leader and innovator who brings deep combined experience in experiential, open, online, and graduate education and research facilitation to the Schwartz School. 

Prior to coming to StFX, Lisa served as Dean of the Faculty of Business at Athabasca University, where her role was to drive innovation in accessible and online education for diverse learners. Before that, she spent over 16 years on Treaty 4 Territory as a Marketing professor in the Hill and Levene Schools of Business at University of Regina. There she was best known for her courses’ local industry client projects and her success training high-performing academic student teams. She developed her leadership in graduate programming and research through her roles as Associate Dean (Strategic) in the Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research and as Associate Dean (Research and Graduate Programs) in the Hill and Levene Schools of Business. Lisa has been formally recognized for her achievements in all three academic pillars of teaching, research, and service. She holds a PhD from Bond University in Queensland, Australia, and MMS and BCom (hons) degrees from Carleton University in Ontario, Canada.

As a consumer psychologist, Lisa’s research program considers how to encourage consumers to make more economically, socially, and environmentally sustainable choices.