Lauren is a University of Michigan School for Environment and Sustainability alumna (MS ‘15, Natural Resources and Environment: Behavior, Education and Communication), and an award-winning sustainability practitioner and communications strategist. Lauren specializes in climate resiliency planning, environmental storytelling, stakeholder engagement, behavior change, and marketing. Her 15+ years of industry experience spans higher education, government, and the private sector. She most recently served as the Sustainability Program Manager for the University of Arizona Office of Sustainability, where she founded and directed the Office’s communications program, co-chaired the University’s inaugural Climate and Sustainability Action Plan effort, and served on the Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (JEDI) Committee at the Arizona Institute for Resilience. Prior to her role at UA, Lauren provided senior-level management for NOAA’s $15M portfolio of Great Lakes Restoration Initiative (GLRI) projects and co-chaired the NOAA Great Lakes Regional Collaboration Communications Team, which received a National Telly Award under her joint tenure for producing an educational video about NOAA's freshwater mission.

Before obtaining her graduate degree, Lauren served on the Midwest Regional Green Mission Team for Whole Foods Market in Chicago, and helped develop sustainability initiatives for the company. She trained hundreds of team members, led community and customer outreach, and worked in Guatemala on a microcredit loan program for the Whole Planet Foundation. She was honored to receive the University of Michigan’s William B. Stapp Award for Excellence in Environmental Education in 2015, and the Whole Foods Market Team Member of the Year Award twice. Lauren holds a Permaculture Design Certificate from the University of Wisconsin (2009) and recently completed a 200-hour Registered Yoga Teacher Training program in Tucson, Arizona (2023). In her free time, she is an avid kayaker, writer, singer, bike commuter, and kombucha enthusiast.