Laura Sander is a financial professional who has worked in the nonprofit, for-profit, and public sectors with a focus on higher education and the nonprofit sector. She returned to the position of chief financial officer and treasurer at Whitehead Institute in 2023 after previously serving in that role from 2010 to 2016. Between 2016 and 2023, she was the senior vice president for finance and administration and treasurer at Suffolk University.  Her prior experience includes serving as assistant treasurer at Harvard University and as vice president at both Moody’s Investors Service and at J.P. Morgan, where she focused on higher education and nonprofit institutions.  Earlier in her career, she was an analyst at the Congressional Budget Office.

Laura holds a master of public policy degree with a focus on finance from the Harvard Kennedy School and a BA from Grinnell College. She is a certified treasury professional and volunteers as a trustee of Grinnell College and as a trustee and treasurer of the Commonwealth School (Boston). Sander previously served as a director and treasurer of the Boston Consortium for Higher Education and as a commissioner for the New England Commission of Higher Education.