Lauren Outlaw, JD, Senior Partner

loutlaw@lumenimpactgroup.com

Lauren is passionate about ensuring that all students have equal access to high-quality education opportunities. As a lawyer with over 10 years of experience, Lauren is an expert in legal analysis and policy development, project management, strategic planning, and equitable stakeholder engagement.

Lauren previously served as a Senior Policy Specialist at WestEd where she was a member of the Strategic Resource Planning & Implementation and School Choice teams. Her primary responsibilities on the Resource Planning team included developing policies and protocols to promote system productivity; aligning strategic planning and budget processes to ensure the efficient and equitable use of resources; and providing guidance on executing state and federal education laws at the state and local levels. At the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, Lauren co-authored a brief on the strategic allocation and management of federal stimulus funding; in 2021, she directed the creation of state-specific funding profiles depicting federal to state resource allocations under the American Rescue Plan Act.

On the School Choice team, Lauren led monitoring visits for Charter School Program grant recipients and supported the organization’s work on the National Charter School Resource Center. The latter included providing technical assistance on grants management, special populations, and high- quality authorizing. In 2020, she co-authored the Policy Framework for High-Quality Charter Authorizing Practices and the related state profiles. During her time at WestEd, Lauren also co-founded the Black Diaspora Network—an employee resource group designed to advance the organization’s diversity, equity, and inclusion priorities.

Before joining WestEd, Lauren was the Director of Policy at KIPP DC. In this role, she initiated robust infrastructure changes grounded in evidence-based practices; aligned student achievement standards and accountability systems with ESSA mandates; and, leveraged diverse stakeholder groups to meaningfully inform policy and rulemaking initiatives.

Lauren hails from New Jersey and resides in Washington, DC. She is an avid reader, and loves spending time with her friends and family, taking long walks, and traveling. After studying abroad in college, Lauren developed a strong affinity for Costa Rica and visits at least once a year! She received her Doctor of Jurisprudence from Indiana University—Maurer School of Law Bloomington and her Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from Columbia University.

Testimonials

"Lisa did a fantastic job with our entire strategic planning team. Her process was beyond organized. As a new administrator, I was able to lean on Lisa for her expertise and knowledge of strategic planning. She did everything from meeting organization and to facilitating subgroups, focus groups and staff culture surveys. Her work with the school board and administrative team was respectful, while also filled with appropriate advice and constructive feedback. I could not imagine going through this process without Lisa. She will continue to be a trusted resource for years to come."

Jamie DeWitt
School Leader, NexTech High School

"Lumen Impact Group has been critical in supporting Bluum’s efforts in Idaho to manage our $17.1 million federal Charter School Program grant. As one of the country’s first non-profit organizations to receive federal CSP funding, the stakes for our work are very high, and our efforts to help open, expand and replicate public charter schools face scrutiny. I sleep better knowing Lumen Impact Group has worked closely with us to build our processes, procedures and playbook for managing the responsibility of directing and overseeing a significant federal grant. I highly recommend them to others. They are true pros."

Terry Ryan
CEO, Bluum

"As a family-owned and operated company, we needed to preserve our culture and define our mission, vision and values better as we grew. Lumen Impact Group helped capture a variety of diverse perspectives and hopes for the future in a way that connected everyone involved. Lumen Impact Group helped us create a clear strategic focus and for our future stabilized our culture. Lisa also coached our leadership team in supporting implementation."

Mark Smith
President, Krapohl Ford & Lincoln

"Lisa Diaz and Lumen Impact provided invaluable support to Colorado Charter Facility Solutions during our start-up phase. I was the new non-profit organization’s executive director (and only employee at the time), and Lisa knew answers to questions that I did not even know to ask. She made sure the board of directors was set up correctly and that the organizational documents were in place. Lisa helped me establish the organization’s goals and ways to track progress. Lisa is organized, patient and kind, and worked quickly, thoroughly and collaboratively. She is a good listener and even acted as an executive coach/therapist at times. When necessary, Lisa can be direct, yet she is always focused on the goals of the organization and its success. I highly recommend Lisa Diaz and Lumen Impact Group. "

Jane Ellis
Executive Director, Colorado Charter Facility Solutions

"I have worked with Lumen Impact Group at both the individual and organizational level. As a coach, Lisa has a natural ability to get to the heart of the matter quickly and to ask questions that help her clients translate insight into action. Each team member who has worked with Lisa in a coaching capacity has demonstrated visible growth that has positively impacted individual and team performance. As an organization, we are trying to be purposeful about the culture we are creating, as a means of best fulfilling our mission. Lumen Impact Group has been a tremendous thought partner along the way and has facilitated critical steps in a collaborative yet efficient and fun way. Our team was in awe at how much we accomplished collectively in a short period of time. We are moving toward our ideal culture much more quickly than I thought possible, and I have no doubt it is because of Lumen Impact Group’s guidance. "

Kasey Miller
Chief of Staff, National Association of Charter School Authorizers