As the Director of Strategic Partnership and Philanthropy, Laura works to expand the Lab’s strategic partnership capacity, as well as sustain and grow the Lab’s project portfolio – with a particular focus on the Digital Transformation workstream. Laura also works closely with the Lab’s program leads to build out compelling concepts and strategies for new projects. Laura brings a unique set of experiences working at the intersection of education, workforce, data and technology. For 12+ years, Laura has worked on designing solutions aimed at making education and workforce systems more skills-centric, equitable, and data-driven.

Laura previously served as the Director of Talent Sector Strategy at Brighthive, a B-Corp that helps organizations share data to achieve common goals. Within this role, Laura led the company’s go-to-market strategy for the workforce and higher education sectors, drove business development, and led sector partnerships. Laura also led a range of complex client engagements for data collaboration projects within the workforce, post-secondary education, and skills domains. Previously as Partnership Solutions Lead at Credential Engine, Laura developed partnerships with industry associations, employers, and community-based organizations to improve data quality and promote credential transparency. Laura also served as a Community Engagement Manager at Opportunity@Work, where she promoted skills-based hiring strategies and designed playbooks and toolkits for communities to better support economic mobility for individuals with skills acquired through non-traditional paths.

HOMETOWN: Amherst, Massachusetts

EDUCATION: Clark University

BACHELOR’S: BA in Political Science

MASTER’S: Master of Public Administration (MPA)

FAVORITE QUOTE: “When we strive to become better than we are, everything around us becomes better too”. – Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist

WHEN I’M NOT AT WORK I’M… enjoying Baltimore with my husband, daughter, and pit-mixed dog, experimenting with new recipes in the kitchen (Alison Roman FTW!), or listening to music and working on standing up a vinyl record shop, Charm City Groove, with my husband Andrew.