Social Sector

About Laura

Laura Callanan is a Senior Expert in McKinsey’s New York office and a member of the Social Innovation Practice. She draws from her 25 years of experience as an executive in the social sector to support clients plan and manage for growth and sustainability.

Laura leads McKinsey’s Learning for Social Impact (LSI) initiative, which offers best practices and tools for funders, their grantees, and other essential partners integrating social jmpact assessment into strategy, program design and program execution. Laura also leads work on sustainable capitalism and social investing, including helping develop the market for Social Impact Bonds in the U.S.

Immediately prior to joining McKinsey, Laura worked as an independent consultant. Her clients included The Synergos Institute, a non-profit organization addressing global poverty and social injustice; and E-Line Ventures, a double bottom line investment fund focused on video games with social impact.

Laura was a Senior Adviser at the United Nations Development Programme in the Bureau for Crisis Prevention and Recovery, where she served as chief of staff, and led resource mobilization and external communications.

As Executive Director of The Prospect Hill Foundation, Laura led strategy development, board relations, and operations. The foundation is active in environmental conservation, reproductive health and rights, and nuclear non-proliferation.

As Associate Director at The Rockefeller Foundation, Laura had management responsibility for the $3 billion endowment, and investment responsibility for the foundation’s venture capital and private equity portfolio. She also was a member of the Foundation’s Program Venture Experiment commitment committee making program related investments and other social investments.

Laura is an adjunct professor at New York University’s Stern School of Business where she teaches on the nonprofit capital marketplace.

Published work

Co-wrote the introduction to "Leap of Reason: Managing Outcomes in an Era of Scarcity," by Mario Morino, Venture Philanthropy Partners, 2011

Past experience

Education