Laura Weidman Powers

Operating Partner at Base10 Partners

Speaker

Laura Weidman Powers is a social entrepreneur whose career has spanned the nonprofit, for-profit, and government sectors.

Laura is operating partner at venture firm Base10. She leads portfolio services and impact partnerships for the Advancement Initiative, the firm's growth stage funds that donate 50% of profits to create scholarships at underfunded colleges. Laura works across the portfolio on governance and transparency as a means to drive financial outperformance.

Laura joined Base10 after working as the Head of Impact at Echoing Green, a global social innovation fund, where she oversaw investments, portfolio support, and impact strategy. Laura is the co-founder and CEO emerita of Code2040, a nationally-recognized, award-winning nonprofit that has worked with hundreds of Silicon Valley startups on inclusive growth.

In 2016, Laura was invited to join the Obama Administration for a tour of duty as a senior advisor to US Chief Technology Officer Megan Smith. From 2014-2016 Laura sat on the National Advisory Council on Innovation and Entrepreneurship (NACIE) for the US Department of Commerce.

Laura was the American University of Rome’s first Social Entrepreneur in Residence in 2019, and was a 2018 Stanford Social Entrepreneur in Residence, teaching courses on social innovation at both schools. She was a 2016 New America California Fellow, a 2013 Echoing Green Fellow, and a 2013 Goldman Sachs Most Intriguing Entrepreneur. Her work has been featured in numerous publications and she is a frequent speaker on the intersection of innovation and impact.

Laura holds a BA from Harvard and a JD/MBA from Stanford. She once travelled for 303 days with a baby.