Laura Deaton

Executive Director

mentor | gardener | animal lover

Laura nurtures fertile ground.  Whether working in her home garden or mentoring our teams, she’s always sowing seeds and cultivating success. Driven by a passion for helping people, the planet, and the nonprofit sector thrive, she leverages her legal background, teaching experience and three decades of nonprofit leadership to work together with teams to build capacity and generate measurable impact.

Before joining Multiplier in 2013, Laura directed national policy research for a “think tank” project of a large private foundation; designed and taught a Master’s level nonprofit leadership course, led the formation of a nonprofit focused on breaking the cycle of intergenerational poverty; helped save a struggling civil rights organization, served as managing director of a women’s healthcare center; ran a regional symphony orechestra; headed corporate communications for a Silicon Valley tech start-up; and served as a senior leader for several disability-related and youth mentoring organizations.

Laura lives in Bellingham, Washington and spends her free time with family and her rescued super-mutts Griffin and Karma. She can be found forest bathing in the cedars, enjoying PNW oysters on the half shell, solving cryptic crosswords, and engaging in a lively game of multilingual scrabble.

Education:

  • B.A. in Psychology from Boston University College of Arts and Sciences
  • J.D. from Duke University School of Law
  • Certificate in Strategic Perspectives in Nonprofit Management from Harvard Business School