Connecting policy, people, and place to solve complex cross-border problems.

Bridging the Americas is the strategy and research practice of Lisa L. Munro, PhD. I combine more than 15 years of U.S.–Latin America experience with governance research, fieldwork, and stakeholder mapping to help organizations identify opportunities, understand constraints, and make better decisions across the U.S.–Mexico relationship.

Explore my approach

I help businesses, institutions, and organizations understand complex cross-border environments so they can identify opportunities, navigate constraints, and make better strategic decisions.

I combine governance research, fieldwork, stakeholder mapping, and partnership development to uncover how policy, institutions, infrastructure, and local conditions shape what is possible in practice.

Strategy & Governance

I investigate how policy, institutions, stakeholders, infrastructure, and local conditions interact in practice—helping organizations identify opportunities, anticipate constraints, and make better strategic decisions.

Areas of Practice

Partnership Development

I build the relationships that make cross-border partnerships work. Trust, sustained engagement, and reciprocity turn introductions into durable institutional collaboration.

Urbanism & Mobility

I examine how people move through cities and how streets, transportation systems, land use, and public space function on the ground. I help organizations identify gaps, evaluate interventions, and understand their real-world impacts.

Methodology

Better diagnosis leads to better decisions.

Information is abundant. Good diagnosis is not.

The harder task is determining what the evidence actually tells us, what is missing, and what forces are shaping the problem in the first place.

Bridging the Americas brings together evidence, institutional analysis, political economy, historical context, and human judgment to understand not only what is happening, but why.

WORK WITH BRIDGING THE AMERICAS

BRING ME YOUR PROBLEMS.

You already have problems. I cannot make your business environment uncomplicated. (Even I have my limits.) But I can help prevent you from making a consequential (and potentially really expensive) decision based on a terrible premise.

Maybe something isn't working the way everyone says it is. Maybe the official explanation doesn't match what you're seeing. Maybe you have plenty of information but still don't understand what's happening. Or maybe you're about to make a big decision and want someone to interrogate the assumptions behind it before you commit.

Here's the straight sh*t: I don't dish meaningless corporate oatmeal.

I won't promise mythical “clarity,” hand you some “actionable insights,” or tell you to “leverage strategic synergies” and call the problem solved. Sometimes the evidence is messy. Sometimes the answer is uncertain. Sometimes the premise simply doesn't hold up.

My job is to tell you what the evidence supports, what it doesn't, what I think is actually happening, and what that means for the decision you have to make.

Here’s some things I can help you do.

  • Something isn't working. Everyone may even agree about why. But does the evidence support that explanation?

    I test the assumptions, look for what's missing or contradictory, talk to the people who see different parts of the problem, and figure out which explanation best fits what's actually happening.

    You might leave with: a diagnostic report, decision memo, recommendations, or briefing.

  • The org chart tells you who is supposed to be in charge. It doesn't necessarily tell you who can make something happen.

    I find out who has authority, who controls money and resources, who has influence and relationships, who benefits from the current arrangement, and who can quietly stop your plans.

    You might leave with: a map of people and institutions, interview findings, a written analysis, or briefing.

  • A signed agreement is not a relationship. Meetings, contacts, and activity aren't necessarily evidence of one either.

    I look at what the partnership actually produces, who does the work of maintaining it, what each side expects, where things break down, and whether the relationship can survive the departure of the people currently holding it together.

    You might leave with: a partnership review, relationship map, analysis of your existing data, recommendations, or a better system for tracking what is actually happening.

  • You're considering an investment, expansion, partnership, or new market. The official presentation tells you part of the story. You need to understand the rest before you commit money, time, and relationships.

    I investigate the rules, institutions, people, interests, history, and informal practices that will shape what actually happens.

    You might leave with: a research report, institutional or power map, interviews, decision memo, or briefing.

  • You have reports. Data. Policies. Presentations. Interview notes. Expert opinions. Forty-seven PDFs somebody swears are important.

    You probably do not need more information.

    I read it, examine it, compare claims against evidence, find the gaps and contradictions, and tell you what I think you can responsibly conclude.

    You might leave with: an evidence review, research synthesis, decision memo, report, presentation, or briefing.

Bridging the Americas

Essays and field notes on governance, mobility, and political economy across the Americas.

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