Rigorous thinking. Human delivery.
Clarity, alignment and momentum in complex environments.
I work with senior leaders to shape direction, align stakeholders and turn strategy into delivery.
Strategy, co-design, and delivery, shaped across 20 years across Deloitte, PwC, and elite sport.
Available for advisory, strategy and delivery partnerships
Why this work matters
Most complex initiatives don’t fail because of a lack of ideas.
They stall when alignment breaks down, across organisations, priorities and delivery.
The work is not just designing the strategy.
It’s making it hold across the people and systems responsible for delivering it.
Understand the system. Design the future. Deliver what works.
Paralympics Australia |Brisbane 2032
Built the pathway to Brisbane 2032 across national roundtables, board alignment, commercial models and a delivery roadmap, sharpening priorities and tranlate ambition into a clear, actionable roadmap. Designed with parathletes, coaches, corporate partners and the executive team.
$283M in federal investment secured.
Selected Work
NSW Planning Portal | DPHI
Bought together 232 councils, policy and delivery teams to create a clear, unified approach to the planning portal, turning resistant stakeholders into a shared process that prioritised real user needs into a delivery roadmap.
98% council satisfaction and a prioritised roadmap for delivery
NSW Office of Sport
Aboriginal Outcomes Strategy: Defined a new role for the Aboriginal Outcomes team, shifting from program delivery to system stewardship. Built alignment across agencies, sports and community stakeholders and connecting sport participation to Closing the Gap targets.
Run My Way: Build the evidence base, using global insights to help shape the program's core priorities. Ran cross-agency co-design with government, councils, runners and providers to develop programs to improve women's safety in sport and active transport.
$1.3M in cross-agency funding secured.
HBF Health
Directed the integrated digital, brand, media and retail program for a WA health insurer entering a saturated east coast market — including the award-winning Quokkas campaign.
325% revenue growth.
Ready to move?
How I work
The work I’m brought into usually sits across organisations, systems and communities.
Often, there is a real opportunity, new funding, policy focus, or leadership ambition, but not always a clear path to move it forward.
Every engagement starts by mapping the real system, the politics, the people, and the constraints before designing anything. Solutions are built with the people who use them, tested fast, and scaled based on evidence.
I use AI as a thinking and delivery partner, a force multiplier for sharper strategy and faster prototyping. You pay for the strategy; the AI handles the heavy lifting of prototyping and synthesis.
ABOUT THE NAME
Not a shot. A shift.
In hockey, the upright reverse is a strike taken from the reverse side of the stick, upright, composed and controlled. Most players drop low. This shot stays tall, redirecting force with precision instead of power.
It’s not about force. It’s about reading the game differently. Using intelligent redirection, reading the system, staying calm under pressure, and finding the angle others miss.
That's the philosophy behind the consultancy. It's a strategy that moves through people with thoughtful courage and surprising agility.
About
Lisa Walton has spent 20 years leading teams and delivering complex programs across government, sport, health, and digital at Deloitte, PwC, and Apple, and now through Upright Reverse.
She’s an experienced General Manager, an Olympian (NZ Hockey, Athens 2004), and a Commonwealth Games bronze medallist, and works with executive leaders to turn strategy into execution.
Based in Sydney, Australia, with Aotearoa New Zealand roots.
Ready to move?