LISA WISHART 8 NOVEMBER 1965 – 7 JANUARY 2023

BY NICOLA TAYLOR

Lisa Wishart, Managing Director of Lisini, the family-owned business which has Dalziel Park in Motherwell, Angels in Uddingston and the Parkville in Blantyre in its portfolio died last month after a year spent battling through a brain haemorrage.

Nicola Taylor pays her tribute to Lisa - a true ambassador for the hospitality industry.

You really don’t expect to be asked to write about your friend who was so tragically taken from us at only 57. A funny, smart and beautiful lady inside and out, and one that I am proud to call my friend.

Lisa and I met through a mutual friend, Laura Gordon, and immediately hit it off. We were part of a peer learning Group which focused on strong leadership and shared a desire to be the best leaders for our businesses and creating strong cultures of belonging and support within our businesses. It became clear very quickly that we shared so many similarities and experiences. Most obviously we were two women running second generation family hospitality businesses with our Dads as our wing men.

It was easy for us to have open and frank conversations about everything to do with business and the impact it had on our lives. We both made the choice later in life to join the ‘family firm’ and chose to grow the businesses using the platform our parents had built with our added experience from elsewhere. We were both lifelong learners, in fact from starting out as a PE teacher, Lisa went back to University to gain her MBA to help her embark on what was to be an incredibly successful business career.

Needless to say, Lisa was beyond devastated when she lost her Dad, and that was pretty tough for her, especially leading into Covid with all the challenges that brought the industry as a whole.

Of course, Lisa was someone who was so passionate about her business, her team and the whole industry. She was always able to find time to help others, no matter how much she had to do.

Hospitality is non-stop 24/7 and 365 days, but she enjoyed it so much and got a huge amount of satisfaction from watching the business grow and develop along with her team.

During Covid, her tireless focus helped the business navigate through some of the dark times we all experienced and come out the other side, stronger. She was an advocate within the industry and never shied away from defending what she held dear.

However, her number one priority was her family and in particular her teenage son, Jamie, to whom she devoted so much of her energy and focus, no matter what else was going on in her life.

Lisa simply sparkled. She lit up any room she was in. Whenever I arrived anywhere to meet her, I could see and hear her instantly, chatting happily, telling wonderful and funny stories with everyone around her laughing and smiling. That is how I will always remember her. I for one, and I know I speak for so many others, will miss her enormously.

We’ve lost one of the very best. Let’s raise a toast to our wonderful colleague and friend –Lisa Wishart.