Laura Dannels

Laura Dannels is Head of Talent and Chief Learning Officer for one of the Southeast’s largest healthcare systems. She serves as a strategic business partner, an executive ally of core business strategies and transformation programs, and as an enterprise change agent. Her leadership background is connected to well-recognized establishments, including her most recent assignment leading learning & leadership development at Kaiser Permanente where her leadership efforts were globally recognized in Training Magazine where she was selected as a “Top 5 Global Emerging Leader”.

Prior to Kaiser, Dannels led transformational leadership development for PG&E, which resulted in the organization ranking #14 in Training Magazine’s premier list of “Top 125 Global Training Organizations." Her endeavor received praise as a model program for growing leaders from The White House and the Obama Administration. Preceding PG&E, she founded a leadership development company and spent many years working across human resources. She completed her Ph.D. in Global Leadership and Change from Pepperdine University in 2020, MBA from the University of Houston in 2012, and holds several certifications, such as Executive Coaching from UC Berkeley. She has a passion for helping communities thrive and currently serves as a board member of JDC, a leading global humanitarian organization working in over 70 countries.