Laura Smith Dunaief

LAURA SMITH DUNAIEF brings extensive corporate experience leading entrepreneurial and established sales, service, operations, project and training organizations, along with her passion for achieving gender parity, to her in-person and virtual workshops. During her 20-year career in financial services, she was a consistent advocate for increasing industry diversity.

Since 2003, Laura has consulted extensively with financial, healthcare, media, nonprofit and trade organizations to design and deliver custom leadership, management, diversity and professional skill programs and to coach employees at all levels. She is the former Director of Take The Lead’s Leadership Ambassador program.

Laura is an active volunteer for organizations that cultivate and prepare diverse talent for leadership roles, including the Financial Women’s Association, where she serves as a Board advisor, mentors college students and Co-Chairs the Wall Street Exchange summer program.

AREA OF EXPERTISE

Capital Markets Equities Fixed Income Mutual Funds Consultative Selling Coaching Business Writing Management Skills Customer Service

Laura has 20 years of experience in the financial services industry managing sales, client services, trading, executive communications, and training. Her areas of expertise include organizational assessment, certification program and workshop design, and program facilitation on such topics as leadership, management, and communication skills; sales; financial products; and U.S. capital markets and regulatory issues.

CURRENT POSITION The owner of LASD Resource Development/CareerCraft, Laura partners with organizations to design, manage, and implement organizational training strategies and programs. Since 2003, she has worked extensively with international and domestic private banks, investment banks, mutual funds, and regulators, developing and facilitating custom programs to address a wide array of organizational needs. She has certifications from DDI and Achieve Global, and she is a Master Trainer for the Certified Professional in Training Management (CPTM) program, which she helped develop for Training Industry, Inc.

PAST POSITIONS

As a Director for Schwab Capital Markets, Laura led the capital markets training organization, managed the Associate Program, and headed a strategic client service initiative. Before joining the capital markets organization to run a Nasdaq equities trading desk, she managed an array of retail brokerage organizations for Schwab, including a specialized group that facilitated international trading for domestic clients, a broker call center, and a retail brokerage sales office.

EDUCATION

B.A., Organizational Behavior and Communication, New York University, magna cum laude with honors in Social Sciences