Laura McHugh
Marketing and Communications Program Director, School of Public Affairs
 | Email Address: [email protected] Office Hours: By appointment |
Bio
Laura McHugh is a strategic marketing and communications leader with over 10 years of experience driving brand growth and engagement for global technology companies, international nonprofits, and education-focused organizations. She serves as Marketing and Communications Program Director for the School of Public Affairs at the University of Colorado Denver on the University Communications team.
In previous roles, she led marketing and communications for National Geographic's education vertical, including the National Geographic GeoBee and Explorer Magazine, and developed thriving social media communities for the Mathematical Association of America. She also led global education content strategy at Lenovo with a particular focus on reaching Gen Z students and their parents. Most recently, she served as Marketing and Communications Director at InnovateEDU, an education policy nonprofit, where she supported national policy initiatives for AI use in education and IEP transfers for children in military families through her work supporting the EDSAFE AI Alliance, National AI Literacy Day, Educating All Learners Alliance, and Project Unicorn. She has earned multiple Webby Awards for digital content and is recognized for her expertise in content strategy, crisis communications, video production, email marketing, and cross-functional project leadership.
Originally from Washington, D.C., Laura is a graduate of The College of Wooster. She is passionate about helping mission-driven organizations find their authentic voice and effectively communicate their impact to diverse audiences. Volunteering in her community has always been important to Laura, and she has contributed to organizations including DC Greens, the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, HistoriCorps, Food Bank of the Rockies, and Volunteers for Outdoor Colorado. In her free time, Laura enjoys climbing, hiking, and reading broadly.