Laura F. Rodriguez
Senior Program Officer, Builders Initiative
Laura F. Rodriguez is a Program Officer for Builders Initiative focusing on the foundation's oceans work. Her passion for catalyzing scalable and inclusive solutions helps empower individuals, communities, and organizations focused on myriad challenges impacting oceans. Laura is driven to incorporate local knowledge and science into decision making processes, transform public policies, and ensure market readiness for sustainable products as a means to create systemic changes in natural resource management systems.
Laura is a firm believer that lasting change is created through trust-based partnerships with stakeholders. She collaborates with others to ensure that Builders Initiative’s efforts are aligned with stakeholders' and help creates value for the environment and humanity overall. Previously, Laura served as Associate Vice President for Latin America and the Caribbean for the Environmental Defense Fund's (EDF) Oceans program. In that role, she supported diverse stakeholders that worked together to ensure sustainable fisheries management brought social and economic benefits to coastal communities in the region and improved ocean health in both the Pacific and Caribbean.
Born in Guadalajara, Mexico, Laura earned a doctoral degree in marine ecology from the University of California, Davis and a bachelor’s degree in marine biology from the University of New Hampshire. Laura loves growing her own food, supporting young artists, and has been learning how to surf for the past 20 years.