Laura Saponara

LAURA SAPONARA (Board Chair) has 20 years of experience in strategic communications for ambitious, effective nonprofits and philanthropies, including the Ford Foundation, Public Health Institute, Kaiser Permanente and the American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California, where she oversaw a team of strategists who use storytelling and media of all kinds to call out abuses of power and defend fundamental rights.

Saponara holds a master’s degree in Mass Communication from the University of Texas, Austin. Her passion for independent media is extreme; she prizes KALW as a glorious beacon. She is a former board member of Media Alliance and Groundspark, and an advisor to The Op-Ed Project.

In a radical mid-life career move, Saponara is currently studying psychology at The Wright Institute in Berkeley and enjoying every minute of it. She lives in the Richmond Annex with her daughter and two spritely cats.