Laura Wisland is a program officer for the Climate and Clean Energy program at the Heising-Simons Foundation. Prior to joining the Foundation in 2019, Laura led the Union of Concerned Scientists’ work on power sector issues in the West for 11 years, advocating for policies to accelerate the transition to carbon-free sources of electricity. Before that, she was the director of the California Hydropower Reform Coalition, where she worked to improve river systems. She earned a master’s degree in public policy from the Goldman School at the University of California, Berkeley, and a bachelor’s degree in public policy from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.