Laurel Johnston serves as the Associate Director of Development for the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation and Institute, a non-partisan organization which sustains the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum, the most frequented presidential library with over 400,000 visitors annually. Laurel Johnston has served more than three decades as a fundraiser for America’s premier non-profits including The American Red Cross, CARE and The Episcopal Church.
In her role with the American Red Cross, Laurel served as a Major Gift Officer and as a Press Officer for many natural and man-made disaster both locally and nationally, including the 1992 Los Angeles riots. Laurel’s work with CARE took her to countries in East Africa, Eastern Europe Central America and to India to show donors first-hand the organization’s efforts to break the cycle of poverty and develop systems of self-sufficiency for families in the developing world. As Director of Stewardship with the Episcopal Church, Laurel worked with 110 dioceses across the country to help resource 7,700 Episcopal Churches to conduct effective annual giving campaigns grounded in faith and generosity.
Born in Boston, raised in Northridge California, Laurel holds a B.A. in International Relations and Spanish from U.C. Davis and a Master of Divinity from Church Divinity School of the Pacific in Berkely, CA. Laurel lives in Thousand Oaks, with her adopted three-year old daughter, parents and two King Charles Cavaliers, Charlie, and Theo.