As an executive with over 25 years of experience in finance, operations, management, and leadership, Laura Smith has made a name for herself in the Bay Area of California. Her expertise spans various industries such as high tech, manufacturing, customer products, software, and biotech. She is known for being innovative, driven, and thoughtful, with a diverse range of skills in strategic and business planning, clinical business operations, vendor oversight, contract negotiations, financial planning and budgeting, operations finance, GAAP and financial policies knowledge, process changes, efficiencies and cost savings for companies, and being a turn around artist. Laura's exceptional track record and versatility have enabled her to become a Swiss Army Knife in the corporate world, driving teams towards common goals for company success by building cross-functional relationships with internal teams and vendors.

Laura's academic background speaks of her determination to succeed. She studied Economics and earned her bachelor's degree from Agnes Scott College, followed by an MBA from Georgia State University's J. Mack Robinson College of Business. Throughout her career, she has held various positions across the industry, including serving as Business Process and Optimization Lead, Development Operations at Ascendis Pharma A/S, Principal at Coopersmith Management Consulting LLC, Executive Director of Clinical Contracting and Outsourcing at FibroGen, Inc., R&D Controller at OXiGENE, Inc., Associate Director of Accounting at Nektar Therapeutics, Associate Director of FP&A at Gilead Sciences, Controller of Apple Care Operations at Apple Inc, Sr Manager of FP&A at Oblix, Inc., Sr Manager of FP&A at Altavista, Sr Financial Analyst at Hewlett Packard Inc, and Manager of Accounting at Executive Adventure.

Laura's professional career is a testament to her skillset as evidenced by her key career accomplishments, including partnering with CEO and Finance to establish financial controls, developing one of the most diverse and highly respected teams within the company, negotiating substantial cost savings with a vendor, serving as Chair of the Board of Directors for Project Open Hand during the planned transition of Executive Director, and more.