Lara is a results-oriented professional with an established record of cultivating strong cross-disciplinary teams and cross-sector relationships, system-building, and managing change efforts to promote organizational effectiveness and efficiency. She brings more than 20 years of experience in leadership, project management, systems building, grant writing, and strategy development.

Lara began her career as an early childhood teacher and then administrator in Head Start, Early Head Start, and child care. She moved into higher education as adjunct faculty and Community Outreach Coordinator at Southern NH University School of Education, then as the Office of Institutional Research & Evaluation’s Reaccreditation Coordinator and the Office of the President’s Communications & Project Administrator at Tufts University. In 2013, Lara transitioned her career to focus on child and family serving system coordination and improvement efforts and joined Amoskeag Health, a Federally Qualified Health Center. Working her way to Director of Community-Integrated Health and Wellbeing, Lara led Project LAUNCH (Linking Actions for Unmet Needs in Children’s Health) and its collaborative efforts to improve outcomes for young children. With partners from local law enforcement and domestic violence victim services, she developed the Adverse Childhood Experiences Response Team (ACERT), a program that gained regional and national attention for its innovative approach to supporting children exposed to trauma and violence. She also led efforts to improve NH’s early childhood system, prevent child abuse and neglect, integrate behavioral health into primary care, and implement school-based health and behavioral health services. Lara also has more than a decade of experience leading nonprofit boards.  

Lara received her B.S in Early Childhood Education Administration from Granite State College and her M.Ed. in Child Development from Southern NH University. Lara lives with her young adult son and rescue dog in Manchester, NH.