Lisa A. Cohen, CEO Capital Motion LLC


Lisa is a financial services executive, leader, and entrepreneur. Lisa is known for inspiring and driving innovation by gracefully navigating the natural tension between what is and what could be.
Lisa began her career at John Hancock Financial Services, where she led product management of the company’s 401(k) business and created a series of mutual funds bringing Hancock’s institutional investment managers to the retail market. Lisa ran retail product management for Evergreen Investments, where her portfolio included advisor-sold open and closed-end mutual funds, managed accounts, retirement products, annuities, college savings plans, and a $10B raise in a multi-asset mutual fund sub-advised by GMO. Lisa established the firm’s financial Product Due Diligence Steering Committee and was appointed to Wachovia’s Corporate Risk Management, Retirement, and Diversity Committees.
Lisa founded and ran Momentum Partners, a national mutual fund and investment management industry research and strategy firm providing strategic guidance, product innovation, and tactical execution counsel to a diverse C-level client base of mutual fund complexes, investment managers, wealth advisors, sustainable investment managers, RIAs and Broker/Dealers, retirement services providers, nonprofit organizations, and fintechs. The firm was a signatory to the United Nations Principles for Responsible Investment.
“I believe that “repair of the world” is a human obligation. I have long been committed to the principles of using capital to effect positive change. Today, I am passionately engaged in the work of building financial products and solutions that meet the financial planning needs of people with disabilities and those who care for them.
Lisa launched Capital Motion in 2017 to provide strategic advisory services to charitable nonprofits. In 2020, Capital Motion created the Special Needs Financial Services Institute, an independent research organization whose mission is to expand the use of high-quality financial products and services by the nationally underserved market of 80 million people who have a disability. Today, Capital Motion is focused on launching Visible National Trust, the first national, advisor-sold, pooled special needs trust. The Visible origin story has its roots in Lisa’s personal experience with disabilities, including family members with congenital disorders, people who experienced depression, and others for whom dementia started early.
Lisa is a published author (WealthBuilding) and industry opinion columnist (Fund House, WealthManagement.com) and is a skilled manager of board and leadership dynamics.
Lisa received her BA from Smith College and is an alumna of Harvard University’s Executive program on Investment Decisions and Behavioral Finance.
Lisa’s board work includes serving as Treasurer of the nonprofit Cause Fund, as past president of both the Boston Smith College Club and Boston Women Communicators, as a founding board member of the historic Dwight-Derby House Board of Directors, as a member of the Advisory Board of investment firm Wellesley Investment Partners, and as a member of her community’s Historical Commission.