Laura Tolkoff

Laura is SPUR's regional planning policy director, leading SPUR's work on regional planning and policy, regional transportation, governance and interregional coordination. Laura has worked for SPUR since 2015 in various roles, overseeing several strategic local and regional initiatives as SPUR's first San Jose policy director (2015-2017) and as regional strategy project manager (2018). 

Prior to joining SPUR, Laura held a senior role managing the energy and environment program at Regional Plan Association (RPA) in the New York Metropolitan area during and after Hurricane Sandy, spearheading federal, state and regional reforms and working in coalition to launch a federal design competition that brought over $1 billion to local climate resilience projects. 

Laura earned a master's degree in urban and environmental policy and planning from Tufts University and a bachelor's degree in media studies from UC Berkeley. She is an American Leadership Forum senior fellow.