From Wine Country with Love: Inside Lisa Steele’s High-Touch, High-Tech Empire

Lisa Steele leads with equal parts strength and grace. As CEO of Motherlode Holding Company, she’s responsible for ten brands and over a thousand employees, but she’s also a vintner, a horsewoman, a Noni, and a mother. Her story isn’t one of either/or: corporate or personal, tradition or innovation. Instead, it’s a story of weaving them together. From the boardroom to her ranch in Lodi, Steele has built her life and her company on the same foundation: technology can enable, but people are always the point.

The Power of Just Asking

Steele’s entry into the title world was almost accidental. Her father, a land broker, suggested a summer internship at a title company. She did it, then headed off to college as an agriculture major, leaving the industry in her rearview mirror. But the business wasn’t done with her. After graduating, she got a call to become a salesperson for Chicago Title. Young and eager, she accepted.

"I thought, Wow, this is going to be a great, easy job," Steele recalls with a laugh. That optimism was quickly validated by a pivotal encounter. Tasked with winning over the area’s top-producing real estate agent, Steele, nervous but determined, picked up the phone and asked for a meeting. The agent agreed.

Sitting in the office, she cut to the chase: “I’m new, but your name has come up frequently, and you don’t seem to use our services. Is there a reason for that?”

The agent’s reply was stunning in its simplicity: “Nobody’s ever asked.”

Before Steele even made it back to her office, the agent’s assistant had called in three new orders. The lesson stuck: success isn’t about slick strategies, it’s about genuine human connection, and sometimes the courage to simply ask.

From the Ground Up

That first win was the beginning of a career built on listening and learning. Steele didn’t just stay in sales; she dove into escrow with only two weeks of “boot camp” training. She ran commercial operations, direct and national operations.  She worked for both large underwriters and independent agents. Each step gave her a new vantage point and a deeper appreciation for the people behind every file.

She saw firsthand what worked and what didn’t, not from a distant executive chair but from the front lines where deals get done. That 360-degree perspective, earned one role at a time, became the foundation of her leadership philosophy at Motherlode.

The Crossroads of Tradition and Innovation

Today, as CEO, Steele guides her company with a simple motto: “We need to be at the crossroads where tradition and innovation meet.” She champions a “high touch and high tech” approach, recognizing that while the industry must evolve, it can’t afford to lose its soul.

“This will always be a people industry,” Steele insists. “The personal interaction will always be part of any successful company’s blueprint. But we also cannot rely only on that.”

At Motherlode, her ten distinct brands operate with a high degree of autonomy. Steele empowers her managers to make decisions for their markets, trusting them to know their communities best. It’s not a top-down empire; it’s a culture of trust and support. Leo French, founder of Mother Lode Holding Company stood by his philosophy to “hire great people and get the hell out of their way.”  Steele, her MLHC President, Darrick Blatnick and their leadership team continue this approach with MLHC 52 years later.

She applies the same philosophy to technology. Steele has little patience for what she calls “shiny object syndrome.” Her test for every new tool is disarmingly simple: Will this change the client or employee’s life? If the answer is no, she’s not interested. For her, innovation only matters when it enhances human experience.

A Culture of Celebration and Service

Steele’s focus on people starts with her own teams. “Happy people create happy customers,” she says. She encourages employees to find their niche, whether luxury homes or first-time buyers, and reminds them that true service isn’t about buying lunch, it’s about being there when the client needs you most. 

Nowhere is her people-first philosophy clearer than Motherlode’s annual all-company kickoff. What started in a living room with five employees has grown into an event that draws over 600 people from 89 branches on a Saturday morning in downtown Sacramento. It isn’t a corporate meeting; it’s a celebration, a pep rally. Steele and her executives perform skits, spoof pop culture, and poke fun at themselves. One year, she staged a parody of The Bachelorette set in the title industry. It’s fun, it’s a little irreverent, and it reflects her belief that connection and joy are more critical to culture than metrics. 

Amid the laughter, she challenges everyone with a deceptively simple exercise: Think of the three best experiences you’ve had with businesses… now mirror those. In Steele’s view, extraordinary service isn’t complicated. It’s about seeing people, remembering how you want to be treated, and treat your clients in that very same way.   

The Vintner and Faith of 44

When she’s not leading one of the largest title agencies in the country, Steele is at her ranch in Lodi. She grows 30 acres of Cabernet Sauvignon and Syrah grapes. She shares her life there with her significant other, Giovanni Principi, a professional equestrian, along with their horses and a mini donkey named Louie. It’s a place of rest, renewal, and perspective. A place where her children and grandchildren enjoy gathering and enjoying family experiences. 

A place of profound personal meaning. The ranch is named Faith of 44, a tribute to her late daughter Taylor, a gifted soccer player who wore the number 44 and passed away from ovarian cancer at just 17. The number marks the gates and the barn doors, a reminder that resilience and faith live at the center of Steele’s life and leadership.

“I always hope that I can carry on the same faith that she had in people and in life,” Steele says. It’s a quiet statement, but one that reveals her heart: at every level, it comes back to people — believing in them, lifting them up, and carrying that faith forward.

For Steele, leadership has never just been about strategy or scale. It’s about carrying forward the faith her daughter embodied, cultivating the resilience of her people, and remembering that every success begins and ends with love — for the work, for the customer, and for each other. From wine country with love, that’s the heart of Lisa Steele’s empire.