Lisa Eccles
Lisa Eccles is the COO and president of the George S. and Dolores Doré Eccles Foundation, a philanthropic foundation that her uncle George S. Eccles started wanting to help Utah arts and education nonprofits.
Lisa Eccles holds a degree in art history from the University of Utah. After her graduation, she intended to travel and work at a museum. However, she agreed to take a part-time job at her Uncle George and Aunt Lolie’s foundation. Her job title was executive director as the sole employee of the newly formed foundation and she had to figure out how to wisely give the foundation’s money away while retaining it to continue giving to worthy causes. She also advised a board of directors that included three individuals, one of which was her father, Spence Eccles.
During her first year, the George S. and Dolores Doré Eccles Foundation awarded $4.9 million in grants to 80 projects.
Three years later she was still with the foundation and became a full-time employee who would later become a member of the board of directors. “I honestly didn’t intend to stay so long, but then it became my passion and I never wanted to leave.”[1]
The foundation now awards $27 million annually to an average of 400 projects. The recipients range from “the arts to education to health to sports to social services to preservation and conservation. At the same time, its endowment has increased to $1 billion.”[2]
In April 2025, the Salt Lake Chamber chose Lisa Eccles to receive the “Giant in our City” award. Some of the previous 45 recipients include her father, Spence, her uncle George, and Larry H. and Gail Miller, Jon M. Huntsman, Sr., James Sorenson, and Kem Gardner. Also on the list of recipients are Mitt Romney, Gary R. Herbert, Michael O. Leavitt, Gordon B. Hinckley, and N. Eldon Tanner, to name a few.
Lisa serves as a director of the Spencer F. and Cleone P. Eccles Family Foundation (her parents) and the Eccles family-owned hotel, the Goldener Hirsch, in Deer Valley, Utah. She is active both locally and nationally as a board member of the National Park Foundation and has served on the National Trust for Historic Preservation – National Trust Council as well as the boards of Utah Symphony | Utah Opera, Utah Community Builders – Salt Lake Chamber, Preservation Utah, Utah Shakespeare Festival, Salt Lake County Center for the Arts, Natural History Museum of Utah, Utah Museum of Fine Arts, and Intermountain Healthcare’s Community Care Foundation among others.
At her alma mater, the University of Utah, she has served two terms on its Board of Trustees, and chaired its Campus Master Plan Committee. She has also served on the U’s National Advisory Council, its capital campaign steering committee, the George S. and Dolores Doré Eccles Endowment for Medical School Excellence and the College of Music advisory board among others.
Lisa is one of four children born to Spencer F. and Cleone Peterson Eccles and she was raised as a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
