Laura Otten, Ph.D.

Laura Otten, Ph.D., is the Director of La Salle University’s Master of Science in Nonprofit Leadership.

She is a tenured member of La Salle’s faculty and was the Executive Director of The Nonprofit Center from 2001 through May 2021.  She began her affiliation with The Center shortly after it was formed in the early 1980s, working as a consultant and instructor, primarily in the areas of governance, strategic planning, coaching, and program evaluation, and she continues to serve as a consultant and instructor with The Center.  She is a national expert in numerous aspects of nonprofit management and governance.  Her weekly blog, Nonprofit University, (nonprofituniversityblog.org, which ran for over 15 years, until discontinued in 2021), was read in over 155 countries.

She earned her MA and Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania and her BA from Sarah Lawrence College.