Laura Manley

Laura Manley is the Executive Director of the Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy at Harvard Kennedy School, where she leads research and strategy at the intersection of AI, media and democracy.

Previously, Laura served as the founding Director of the Technology and Public Purpose (TAPP) Project at the Harvard Kennedy School Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, where she built a multi-sector initiative under former U.S. Secretary of Defense Ash Carter focused on reducing the societal harms of emerging technologies. At TAPP, Laura launched several new initiatives including the TAPP Fellowship, Tech Fact Sheets for Policymaker Series, and the Tech Spotlight to make advances in tech more inclusive, safer, and fairer. She testified before Congress twice on improving science and technology expertise and capacity in government.

Earlier in her career, Laura co-founded the Center for Open Data Enterprise (CODE) in Washington DC, a nonpartisan research organization that works with governments to leverage data for social and economic good. At CODE, she worked with the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, over a dozen U.S. federal agencies, and eight national governments on their data policies and modernization efforts. She is also the lead author of the Open Data for Business Tool, which is a World Bank assessment methodology for private sector use of government data.

Laura is an Instructor at the Harvard University Extension School, teaching Data-Driven Decision Making for Business Leaders and has taught at NYU Wagner School of Public Policy and Columbia School for Professional Studies on Data for Social Innovation. She previously served as Senior Consultant for the World Bank Group and the United Nations Department for Economic and Social Affairs.

Laura graduated from University of Massachusetts, Amherst with her Bachelor’s in Business Administration and NYU Wagner with her Master’s in Public Policy. She lives in the Greater Boston Area with her husband and two young children. She spends her free time cheering for the Red Sox, cycling, and figuring out how to keep plants alive.