Prior to joining The Ray, Laura was an Environmental Program Manager at the Maryland Department of Transportation (MDOT) for six years. She led the environmental stewardship, sustainability, and energy policies and programs across all MDOT transportation business units including highways, tolls, ports, airports, transit, and motor vehicles. In addition, she oversaw and coordinated environmental management activities in transportation planning, design, construction, operations and maintenance.

Before joining MDOT, Laura worked in the federal and private sectors on environmental management and sustainability issues. She spent two years at the Department of the Army at Arlington National Cemetery where she developed their environmental programs, four years with a private environmental consulting firm working on multi-media environmental compliance and management programs around the U.S. and Europe, and two years as an Air Quality Enforcement Officer with Maricopa County in Arizona.

She received her B.S. in Justice Studies from Arizona State University.