One of the great illustrations of God’s enduring love is placing people in the right place, at the right time, for His ultimate glory.

Lisa Allgood is one of those people.

A scientist by trade, she came to Cincinnati from her hometown of New York City to help Procter & Gamble grow their pharmaceutical division, her lifelong faith guiding her every step. When the time came to find a kindergarten for her daughter Meredith in the late ’90s, Lisa —in life as in work—was diligent and thorough.  

 “What drew me originally to CHCA was the Christian formation,” she shares. “I actually interviewed the person who was the elementary school principal at the time to ask him two questions. I said, ‘I am a Christian. I’m also a scientist. What do you teach?’ He led me through the whole academic programming, K through 12. And it was at that point that I began to understand the depth of the academics that were here as well. And they’ve only gotten better. 

  “The second question I asked was, ‘I come from one of the most diverse cities in the world. How do you get kids ready to go out into a world that isn’t CHCA?’ And he gave me enough of an answer for me to realize that it wasn’t the bubble I thought it was.” 

 During Meredith’s 13 years at CHCA—kindergarten through high school graduation—Lisa seized every opportunity that came her way, from helping preside over Friends of Fine Arts and produce theatre productions to emceeing ArtBeat, serving on the Board of Trustees for six years, and even instructing students in leadership and communications. As she delved further into the micro-level workings of CHCA, what she found was not just a community of believers, but an educational institution truly committed to preparing students for life-changing impact.  

 “Kids learn to engage at a much higher level here than I had seen anywhere else,” Lisa says. “The product of CHCA isn’t an 18-year-old high school graduate. It’s something much bigger than that. We send the kids out to be Christians and to be leaders—and that they do.” 

 Generation After Generation 

Leaving a legacy gift to CHCA, Lisa says, was a natural next step when deciding where contributions from her charitable foundation should go beyond her lifetime.  

 “The legacy that CHCA created in Meredith and me and our family is something that needs to be nurtured and sustained. It’s a joy to be able to give back to that. I want what treasure I have at the end of my life to go back into continuing to build that for the next generation and next generation and next generation,” she says. 

 When she envisions those next generations, she sees a continuance of the Christ-centered leaders CHCA is developing today, discovering their callings and cultivating their gifts for opportunities they could never imagine. Her own career history is a testament to the ways God has used her, time and again, with the specific gifts and passions He’s cultivated, as she jokes, “for such a time as this.” Retiring from P&G in the late 2010s, Lisa assumed that her temporary stint as Executive Presbyter for the Presbytery of Cincinnati would be just that, temporary. Eight years later, she’s still serving and giving God all of the glory. 

 “If I look back, everything I’ve ever done in my life—all of the science stuff, but also all of the leadership training that I’ve done for Procter & Gamble and in other places—everything about my current circumstance led me to be able to do this job the way that I’m doing it. And it’s a calling. It’s not really a job. And if I really believe that, then I’d better be prayerfully intentional about what I do today, because it’s going to lead me to tomorrow.” 

 While her legacy gift will no doubt inspire students to similarly follow God’s lead in all areas of life, its purpose is grander than that.  

 “I know CHCA, I know the spirit is here. I know the spirit careens through the hallways of these schools just like the kids do,” Lisa says. “In a way, I hope it inspires the institution that there are people who are willing to invest in it, that what was started by the Founding Families back in 1989 has created something bigger than they could have seen, and that it has drawn other people in to be part of that same vision.”