Meet Lisa Murphy, ISE's Regional Manager for Michigan
Programs don't welcome kids into homes. People do. Meet the Michigan native on the other end of the phone — the one who makes every Great Lakes match personally.
A decade of matches made with care
Lisa Murphy is a Regional Manager with International Student Exchange (ISE), overseeing student placements across Michigan and the Great Lakes from her home base in Mount Pleasant. For more than ten years she has connected global teenagers with American families — and stayed close to both, long after the school year ends.
She works directly with schools, families, and local coordinators on every placement, trains and mentors the area representatives who support each match, and runs the host family orientations where new families learn the craft: kindness, patience, communication, and the little everyday moments that make a stranger feel like they belong.
Her rule for every match is simple — care, compliance, and commitment. No family is ever left to figure it out alone.
Questions welcome, always
Call or text
Based in
Mount Pleasant, Michigan
serving the whole Great Lakes region
Backed by ISE
International Student Exchange has been placing high school students with American families since 1982 — roughly 3,000 students a year, drawn from partner organizations in more than 90 countries. ISE is a U.S. Department of State designated J-1 exchange visitor program sponsor and is certified by CSIET, the Council on Standards for International Educational Travel.
That's the machinery behind Lisa's personal touch: screened families, vetted students, trained local reps, and a 24-hour support line all year. Curious about the safeguards? See how hosting works, step by step — or meet the students she's placing right now.
Ask Lisa About ISEWhat makes a host family?
"It isn't perfection — it is presence. A shared meal. A ride to school. A family tradition. A simple good morning. These ordinary moments often become the memories that last a lifetime."
— Lisa, at Host Family Orientation
Start with a conversation
In Lisa's words: no pressure, just a conversation.
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