Laura Keane, M Ed

Post-Secondary Policy and Program Expert

Laura Keane is an education and nonprofit leader passionate about higher education equity for students. With twenty years of leadership experience, Laura utilizes a combination of practice, research and policy/systems change strategies to close college opportunity and completion gaps for students of color and students from low-income backgrounds.

Laura is a national thought leader who testified before the Senate HELP Committee, presents at national conferences, and authors publications on college affordability, policy analysis, college advising, and social emotional learning. Currently, Laura offers consulting services to promote the student-centered practices and policy/systems change needed to reduce barriers for underrepresented students to complete their degrees. 

Previously, Laura served as uAspire’s Chief Policy Officer, where she led a direct-service nonprofit to become a leading voice on college affordability policy/systems change. Prior to this role, Laura designed and launched uAspire’s national Training & Technical Assistance Program to reach 3000 counselors and 250,000 students annually, led Mastery Charter Schools College Initiatives for 10,000+ students grades K-16+, and taught high school history for six years. 

In all these positions, Laura led diverse teams to accomplish ambitious goals and served as an executive-level leader of the organizations including strategic partnership management and fundraising. Laura earned her BA at the University of Notre Dame and Ed.M. at Harvard University. Laura and her family live in Philadelphia where her children attend public school, and she can often be found walking her dog in the neighborhood.