Meghan Sivakoff

About Meghan Sivakoff

Nearly 20 years of operations and finance leadership across mission-driven organizations has taught me one consistent truth: the distance between a compelling idea and a lasting institution is filled with unglamorous, essential work. That\'s the work I\'m built for.I\'m a COO by orientation as much as by title — most energized when I\'m helping a visionary leader think bigger while making sure the organization can actually keep up. My career spans nonprofit leadership, impact investing, social enterprise, and public-private partnership across climate education, affordable housing, sustainable infrastructure, and early childhood development.What I bring to the seat is rare range: deep financial ownership across budgets, capital strategy, compliance, and complex deal structures — paired with the operational depth to build institutions from a standing start and the communications instincts to help an organization find and tell its story. I\'ve helped secure and steward $30M+ in philanthropic and public capital, co-led a $185M renewable energy P3 transaction, and built a first-of-its-kind climate education credential from state legislation to 425 graduates — and now a national expansion.I do my best work when the mission is real, the team is committed, and the problem is hard enough that everyone has to matter.Currently serving as COO at Lyra.

Experience

1. Chief Operating Officer

   Lyra

   Oct 2022 — Present · Denver, CO, US

   Lyra accelerates climate education through statewide policy, rural education networks, and green workforce pathways. As COO, I serve as the operational backbone and strategic right hand to the CEO — holding accountability for finance and accounting, board governance, grants compliance, communications and brand, people operations, and programmatic infrastructure. Over three years, I\'ve helped transform Lyra from an early-stage startup into a recognized state and emerging national leader in climate education. A few things I\'m most proud of:→ Serving as core operational leader for the Seal of Climate Literacy — a first-of-its-kind high school diploma endorsement, from policy inception through Colorado\'s first 425 graduates. The state is on track to triple that number. The Seal is now under legislative and departmental consideration in four additional states, and I\'m currently supporting the roll-out of the national expansion infrastructure.→ Contributing to $4.75M+ in competitive grants secured across three years, including a $750K Jobs for the Future award, a $3M state OEDIT grant.→ Serving as de facto CFO, managing a $2M annual budget end-to-end, introducing board-facing financial dashboards, and delivering clean audit opinions each year since our first formal audit.→ Building Lyra\'s full organizational infrastructure from a standing start: HR systems, audit process, 401(k) compliance, governance policies, OKR framework, and a board-endorsed 2030 strategic roadmap.→ Building the organization\'s communications capacity from the ground up including brand identity, website launch, annual reports, and later overseeing a proactive media strategy that generated 22 placements including four national outlets.

Education

• Colorado State University

  Bachelors of Science, Business Administration, Marketing & Entrepreneurship

  2005 — 2008

• Colorado State University

  Masters in Business Administration, Impact MBA (formerly GSSE)

  2011 — 2012

• Sessions Online School of Design

  Foundation Certificate, Graphic Design

  2009 — 2010

• Colorado State University College of Business

  Master of Business Administration - MBA, Global Social & Sustainable Enterprise

• Littleton High School

  International Baccalaureate Diploma Graduate

  1999 — 2003

• Training the Street

  Certificate in Financial Modeling

  2017 — 2017