Laura DiCola joined the TMW Center in January, 2022. As Director of Innovation and Partnerships, Laura’s role is to develop strategic partnerships with other organizations to expand the reach of the Center’s interventions. Laura works as a connector across TMW’s Research and Development teams, helping to enhance communication, establish synergy, and identify key strategic questions and opportunities to accelerate the work of the Center.
Prior to joining the TMW Center, Laura led strategic and policy efforts at Summit Education Initiative (SEI), a non-profit collective impact organization working to increase educational attainment in Akron and Summit County, Ohio. While at SEI, Laura established and advanced cross-sector partnerships with education, government, non-profit, philanthropic and corporate leaders who have a vested interest in early childhood development, and played an active role in local, state and national policy efforts around early childhood development, K-12 schooling and post-secondary education. Before SEI, Laura practiced law in the private sector, helping national and multi-national businesses find creative solutions to business problems. She was a national expert on state taxation, speaking at national conferences and serving as primary or contributing author on more than fifty articles and books.
Laura has a JD from The Ohio State University Moritz College of Law, an MA in Bioethics from Case Western Reserve University, and a BA in Psychology from The Ohio State University. Laura lives in Akron, Ohio. Her favorite book from early childhood is Madeline, by Ludwig Bemelmans.