Megan Davis Lightman – Biography

Megan Davis Lightman is an accomplished CEO, Board Member, and Advisor with over 30 years successfully partnering with business leaders and boards of directors in some of the most challenging industries, guiding them through critical strategic decisions that deliver transformative impact. She brings a record of aligning diverse organizational cultures after M&As, creating seamless integrations. As an insightful board director, partner and driver, she is adept in steering board meeting dynamics, strategic planning, conflict resolution, leadership development and business growth.

Megan is the Chief Executive Officer and founder of The Davis Consulting Group, Inc., a leading organizational development consulting firm that provides strategic guidance to Boards of Directors and leadership teams across the US. She has led strategic transformations for numerous companies and national non-profit organizations. Megan led the operational
and strategic aspects of the largest healthcare merger in Southern Arizona to create a $2B healthcare network, blending the University of Arizona Medical School, University Medical Center and the University Physician Hospital employees under Banner Healthcare Systems – one of the country’s largest nonprofit health centers in the US. As a succession leader, Megan has partnered
with board of directors’ members on two significant, successful CEO transitions. Chairing the CEO Succession Initiative for a $100M not-for-profit organization, Megan led the Board’s Executive Committee and full Board through the profile and specification design, search, and on-boarding of the CEO.

She also chaired the Nominations and Governance Committee and led strategic planning and other initiatives which resulted in a broad-based, comprehensive community strategy impacting priority challenges facing southern Arizona.

Leveraging her operations expertise, Megan led the consolidation of multiple statewide affiliates for a $1.6B national health care service organization that included 600+ health centers across the country, serving over 2.4M people annually. Through strategic and tactical planning, she increased operational efficiencies, reduced redundancies, and increased healthcare access to a greater number of patients. In another high-profile engagement, Megan partnered with Valley Metro Rail to successfully secure over $550M in federal funding from the Department of Transportation for the design and construction of the multibillion-dollar light-rail system throughout the Phoenix metropolitan area.

In addition to her executive career, Megan serves on several local, regional and national advisory boards and BODs. She is a corporate board director for Smithbucklin, a privately-held professional services corporation for membership organizations and trade associations. She serves on the Oregon Community Foundation’s Southern Oregon Leadership Council. By appointment of Governor Kate Brown, Megan serves as a member of the Board of Trustees for Southern Oregon University.  Megan served on the advisory boards of the Bank of Tucson and Women at the Top, where she was President for two years. She was a Trustee of the Community Foundation for Southern Arizona, serving on the executive committee, chairing the board’s governance and nominating committee, and chairing the CEO search committee and transition process. She also led multiple initiatives key to fulfilling the board’s responsibilities in strategic planning.

Megan was appointed by Arizona’s Governor, Janet Napolitano, to the Arizona Humanities Council. She also served as a Statewide Board Member for Planned Parenthood and as Board Chair at Planned Parenthood of Southern Arizona, prior to that merger, which she led. She served as board member for the Jewish Community Relations Council for the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona and a Chair and Executive Committee Member of Make a Difference Day.
She was named one of Tucson’s 10 Most Influential Women.

Megan holds a Master of Science in Organizational Development degree from Loyola University Chicago and a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from Tulane University. She is married to Steven Lightman, President of Harry and David and they have three adult children.