Lisa Sorce: Finding a Unique Experience in Public Service

In 2012, Lisa Sorce was a 14-year veteran of private sector HR who had never given much thought to pursuing public service.

She was working as director of human resources: compensation, benefits and internal auditing with San Diego-based Garden Fresh Restaurant Corp. when one conversation changed all that.

Sorce learned of an opening with Padre Dam Municipal Water District, not quite 20 miles down the road in Santee, Calif. The organization was looking for a new director of human resources and administrative services.

“I had never explored working for a public agency before,” says Sorce, who holds a master’s of jurisprudence in labor and employment law from Tulane University Law School, and a bachelor’s degree in strengths-based business management from Bellevue University.

“But, after meeting with the general manager of the agency, I found a unique experience awaited me, as he was interested in bringing private sector practices, such as pay for performance, to the public sector. I jumped at the opportunity to be part of something unique, and the rest is history.”

Sorce worked in that role for the next 12 years. She left the agency in August 2025, when she accepted her current position as director of human resources with the Port of San Diego, “where I also get to work in an agency with a unique mix of public and private sector practices.”

A PSHRA member since 2005, Sorce first joined the organization’s San Diego chapter in search of local networking opportunities.

“What I found was an incredible group of human resource professionals that quickly became invaluable to me,” says Sorce, who went on to become president of the San Diego chapter for nearly six years.

“PSHRA has afforded me the opportunity to extend my leadership skills outside of my public agency,” adding that her participation in PSHRA’s regional meetings, webinars and training, speaking at national conferences and teaching online classes has been instrumental in her growth as a leader.

Sorce, who has also taught personnel management and labor relations as a part-time faculty lecturer at San Diego State University since August 2023, now finds herself in “the back half of my career and loving it,” she says.

“I love being able to give back to the HR community. I want to finish out my career in my current role, which includes helping develop the next generation of HR leaders!”