Some Questions Need A Thought Partner More Than An Answer.

You're not stuck because you lack ideas. Sometimes the path forward isn't clear yet. You need better information, sharper questions, a more honest picture of where you actually are. Other times you can see exactly where you need to go but something keeps getting in the way. A process that isn't working, stakeholders who aren't aligned, a decision that nobody will make. Either way, you need someone to think alongside you, not just execute for you.

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How I Work

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Sometimes the work begins before anyone is ready to act. I design and conduct formative research (interviews, listening sessions, stakeholder mapping) to help organizations develop a clearer, more honest picture of where they are and what they're actually dealing with. Good decisions start with good questions.

Sometimes what an organization needs isn't a consultant who parachutes in for a project and disappears. I work with leaders and teams in an embedded, ongoing capacity, helping manage board relationships and governance, keeping strategic priorities visible amid daily demands, and serving as a steady thinking partner when things get complicated.

Sometimes the most important work happens in a room. I design and facilitate convenings, workshops, and planning processes where the goal isn't just a good meeting. It's a decision made, a direction set, a group that leaves more aligned than when they arrived.

Who Works With Me

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Association of Public Health Laboratories
Association of State and Territorial Health Officials
Bipartisan Policy Center
CDC Foundation
Delta Prime Consulting
Global Genomics Medicine Collaborative
Healthcare Distribution Alliance
National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine
National Association of Chain Drug Stores

National Association of County and City Health Officials
National Council for Mental Wellbeing
National Collaboration for Health Equity
National Environmental Health Association
National Network of Public Health Institutes
Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute
Roundtrip Health
University of North Carolina
WE Public Health

What People Say

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"A culture of quality improvement is very much at the heart of how Laura works. Paired with her facilitation skills and her eagerness to bring ideas to life, Laura always offers potential solutions to a challenge. She's demonstrated many times her ability to bring new life into projects by identifying the source of the issue and taking steps to address it."

"Laura can be counted on to take on any project, including new content, complicated business planning issues, or stalled deliverables, figure them out, and make appropriate decisions about how to move forward. She consistently exceeds expectations and adds clear value."

"Laura excels in identifying connections across different program areas and searching for ways to strengthen organizations as a whole and build a culture of quality. Paired with Laura's initiative, thoughtful and innovative ideas, and dependability in executing them, she is a very valued partner."

Who Am I

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Laura Runnels was born on a mountaintop in Tennessee, raised in small-town Mississippi, and educated in Connecticut, California, and Missouri. Her early path was anything but straight: a Yale degree in American Studies, stints at community food pantries and a substance use case management program, and diabetes research at a free clinic in Los Angeles. Curiosity was the through-line then, and it still is today — the ability to ask the right questions, see across systems, and find unexpected connections between people, problems, and possibilities.

As founder of LAR Consulting, LLC, Laura combines her intuition and analytical skills with a pinch of folksy sass to help groups think more clearly, work more collaboratively, and move from conversation to action. For nearly two decades she has worked with organizations of all kinds — from local health departments, community-based nonprofits, health tech companies, and breweries to national associations, federal agencies, and the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine.

Outside of client work, she founded the Donor Conception Journal Club, a newsletter that translates research into accessible language for the donor conception community, and Parts of Me, a nonprofit expanding representation of donor-conceived people in culture, arts, and media.

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