Chief Executive Officer
415-308-8347 • laura@bayplanningcoalition.org
Laura Tam is the Chief Executive Officer of Bay Planning Coalition, a network of over 150 organizations that advocate for effective policy, funding, and regulation for San Francisco Bay and its surrounding communities. Laura has over 25 years of experience building partnerships to advance natural resources policy, climate resilience, and healthy places. A thought leader on Bay planning issues, she has written numerous white papers and policy studies covering water, energy, and climate in the region, has contributed chapters to two books focused on planning for sea level rise, and is a co-author of the San Francisco Bay Shoreline Adaptation Atlas. Her work has been featured in the New York Times, Climate Central, the San Francisco Chronicle, and KQED to cite a few. Laura has significant experience working with diverse organizations to build consensus and to develop shared agreements around some of society’s most daunting environmental and infrastructural challenges.
Prior to joining BPC in November 2024, Laura was a Senior Program Officer at Resources Legacy Fund, where she led philanthropic programs, cross-sector coalitions, and strategic communications to advance wildfire, climate, and community resilience in California. Earlier in her career, Laura spent over a decade as Sustainable Development Policy Director at the San Francisco Bay Area Planning and Urban Research Association (SPUR), a leading urban public policy think-tank. She has served on numerous advisory groups to local governments and on nonprofit boards, including those of Smart Growth California; the San Francisco Bay Restoration Authority; Resilient by Design; Friends of the Urban Forest; the Business Council on Climate Change; and the Bay Area Air Quality Management District. Laura has an AB in Geography from Dartmouth College and a Master of Environmental Management degree from the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies. She has lived in the Bay Area for over 20 years and currently resides in Berkeley with her family.