Lisa Bender is a National Board Certified Teacher who taught in Maryland Public Schools for 30 years. Her educational passion lies in guiding teachers and students to become financially literate. Lisa has worked for Take Charge Today (TCT) since 2011 and now serves as their Education and Marketing Specialist as well as having served as TCT’s National Master Educator Team Director. She writes and updates TCT’s personal finance curriculum, conducts virtual and in-person educator training events across the U.S., and promotes financial literacy for TCT through marketing activities and on social media platforms.  

Lisa’s financial management classes were the subject of a feature article and video in USA Today’s Monday Money Section in November 2013.  Additionally, Lisa has written personal finance lessons for the Maryland State Dept. of Education. She works as a consultant for The Financial Literacy Group with Dan Iannicola, former Deputy Asst. Secretary U.S. Treasury. In this role, she assisted with the writing and development of the CFPB’s Youth Financial Education Teacher Digital Project. Lisa serves on the Teacher Advisory Board for the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton Global Youth Programhttps://globalyouth.wharton.upenn.edu/. She won a National Leavey Award for Excellence in Entrepreneurship Education and was a guest speaker on Capitol Hill for National Jump$tart Coalition’s Hill Day. Lisa was a finalist for Maryland’s state teacher of the year in 2007. She holds a Master of Education degree from the University of Maryland.