BIO

Laurie has over 25 years of experience in higher education communications and public affairs. She has helped shape and tell powerful stories of organizational impact at some of the country’s preeminent public and private institutions: Smith College, Hobart and William Smith Colleges, the University of Michigan and the University of Pennsylvania.

At Smith, she led a 25-person centralized communications department that encompassed admission marketing, development and alumni communications, media relations, presidential communications, special events and pre-college programs. She also served on the search committees for two Smith presidents and oversaw their introductions to the global Smith community. She led the college’s public response on numerous complex issues, including freedom of speech, bias allegations, student illnesses and deaths, contested tenure decisions, health and safety of research facilities, controversial speakers, college property acquisitions and PILOT demands.

A Bryn Mawr College graduate, she is frequently consulted on matters of communication strategy, issues management, executive presence and positioning, leadership transition, strategic planning and visioning and nonprofit governance.