Our Team

Laura Orthwein is the Director of Membership Engagement for MxD. She brings leadership experience in strategy, marketing, partnerships, and government business development in the manufacturing sector. She also has deep expertise in guiding mission-driven organizations: nonprofits, public-private partnerships, and private foundations.

Laura has over twenty years of experience developing organizations and acting as a consulting project manager for entities large and small, from multinational Fortune 100 companies like Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM) to small Biotech Research entities and, most recently, an aerospace engineering and rocket propulsion systems startup.

She has served on the National Defense Industrial Association’s (NDIA) Manufacturing Division Executive Team as Chair of the Workforce Development Committee and was invited to accompany Michigan Manufacturing Technology Center’s leadership to Hill Day in Washington, D.C.

She also has eight years of experience in natural history documentary production, with multiple production and writing credits to her name. She produced a permanent exhibit with filmmaker Feodor Pitcairn for the Sant Ocean Hall at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History.