Laura Richards

My career is dedicated to coaching entrepreneurs, innovators and business leaders globally. My expertise is in designing and leading world-class change management initiatives that enable organizations to become more sustainable and human-centered, mitigating environmental and social externalities and accelerating progress toward the global climate action agenda. In 2016, I founded Business Innovations for Good, a multidisciplinary training program for entrepreneurs in East Africa, involving Sustainable Business Practices, Design Thinking, Market Validation, Business Modeling, Financial Management, Team Building and Leadership. Implementing this initiative involved coordinating partnerships between the Resilient Africa Network at Makerere University (Uganda), the Open Sustainability Institute (Uganda), Django Girls (Uganda), and the K Innovation and Entrepreneurship Lab (Rwanda). Previously, I managed an inpatient facility for foster youth with cognitive disorders. In that role, I managed a team of ~20 Behavior Specialists and collaborated with psychiatrists, case managers, and therapists to develop and implement individualized treatment plans for clientele.

Education

• Master of Business Administration (M.B.A.) The University of Texas at Austin - Red McCombs School of Business (2015 — 2018)
• Master of Global Policy Studies The University of Texas at Austin - The LBJ School of Public Affairs (2015 — 2018)
• Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) University of California, Santa Cruz (2008 — 2012)