Laura Paglione has embraced a nonlinear path as an engineer, graphic designer, consultant, entrepreneur, and computer scientist. Today she serves as an independent consultant at Spherical Cow Group, helping technology companies, research institutions, and nonprofits develop, create and implement their research-infrastructure companies and products. Laura served as the Founding Technical Director of ORCID, helping it to fulfill its mission to address name ambiguity for its over 9.5 million researcher-users. Previously as Director, Advancing Innovation at the Kauffman Foundation, Laura directed the efforts of the iBridge Network, an innovation catalyst for university collaboration and technology commercialization. She also has turned around, launched and led 4 other high-profile initiatives. At GA4GH, she is a contributor in the DURI work stream, and serves as the chair of the newly formed EDI Advisory Group. Laura earned her Master of Business Administration from the MIT Sloan School of Management, her Master of Science degree in Computer Science from Brown University, and her Bachelor of Engineering from Stevens Institute of Technology.