For the past 20 years, Laura Bennett of Austin, Texas, has been immersed in the nonprofit world as a mentor through Big Brothers Big Sisters; and a fundraiser for Good Shepherd Episcopal School, American Cancer Society, Trinity Episcopal School, the Nature Conservancy and the Colorado River Alliance. Her most rewarding fundraising endeavor was the seven years she spent with the Jeremiah Program, taking it from a concept in Austin to a bustling campus serving under-resourced single mothers who are working toward a college degree.
Most recently, she was a member of the Mission Impact Advisory Board at Goodwill Central Texas and joined the board of Communities in Schools in 2023. Laura and her dog, Ella, were a therapy team at Dell Children’s Hospital in Central Texas for many years until her dog reached retirement age.
Laura was Director of New Product Development at the technology industry research firm, IntelliQuest, in the 1990s and prior to that, she was a programmer and a software trainer at Dell Technologies.
She and her husband, Kyndel, have a daughter at the University of Texas (UT) studying sustainability and a son at University of Southern California pursuing a career in film. Laura grew up in Houston and earned her BBA in Management Information Systems from UT Austin. In 2023, she completed UT’s TOWER Fellows program, which is an immersive exploration into the next chapter of life.
Laura spends her off-time paddle boarding on Lady Bird Lake, riding horses, bee keeping, and wrestling with Mother Nature in her vegetable garden.