Laura B. Roberts, principal of Roberts Consulting, was executive director of the New England Museum Association, a regional affiliate of the American Alliance of Museums, for six years. Prior to her tenure at NEMA, she was director of education at the National Heritage Museum in Lexington MA, the U.S.S. Constitution Museum in Boston MA, and the Rhode Island Historical Society. She is also a former executive director of the Boston Center for Adult Education.
Laura serves as president of the board of the Central Square Theater and on the board of History Cambridge, where she is treasurer and formerly chaired the program committee. She is the secretary of the board of the Cambridge Public Library Foundation and treasurer of Environment & Culture Partners. She is also on the program and education committee of Old Sturbridge Village. She serves on the editorial boards of the Journal of Museum Education and American Association for State and Local History. Laura is a peer reviewer for AAM's Museum Assessment Program for Organizational, Governance, Education, and Community Engagement Assessments. She is a volunteer for the NEMA911 mentoring and advice service of the New England Museum Association. She has served on the advisory boards of the Mary Baker Eddy Library and the Tufts University Art Gallery [former chair] and on the Tufts University Gifts of Art Committee, charged with oversight of the university's art collection. Her other prior board memberships include the national Independent Museum Professionals (IMP) network, Mass Humanities, the community advisory board of WGBH, the education advisory board of the American Folk Art Museum, the Education Committee [EdComm] of AAM, First Night Boston and the Institute for Learning Innovation.
Laura holds an M.B.A. in public and nonprofit management, with high honors, from Boston University's Questrom School of Business, an M.A. in History Museum Studies from the Cooperstown Graduate Program of the State University of New York, and a B.A. in Social Anthropology, magna cum laude, from Harvard University. She was the recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award from the New England Museum Association in 2021 and the John R;. Russell Award for Public and Nonprofit Excellence from Boston University in 2003.
She has been teaching graduate students in arts and nonprofit management since 1991. Currently, Laura is an adjunct faculty member at the Harvard University graduate program in Museum Studies. She previously taught at Bank Street College of Education, Northeastern University, Tufts University, Questrom School of Business at Boston University, Lesley University and the History Leadership Institute Seminar [formerly the Seminar in Historical Administration] and is a frequent presenter at professional meetings and conferences.