Lisa Williams is the CEO & founder of Placeblogger, the largest searchable index of local weblogs. Willliams is also a fellow at the MIT Media Lab’s Center for Future Civic Media, where she focuses on the future of news and civic engagement.

Prior to founding Placeblogger in 2007, she ran news site, H2otown, which became a national model of hyperlocal news and citizen journalism. Williams has worked for the Globe and in an advisory capacity with countless startups and new media organizations. She won the New Media Woman Entrepreneur of the Year award in 2009 for her work with Placeblogger.