Laurie Yoler is a board director and technology strategist known for guiding companies through major inflection points, scaling frontier technologies, and strengthening governance in areas such as cybersecurity, AI, M&A, and innovation oversight. She brings more than 25 years of experience advising CEOs and founders and has served on over 25 public, private, and nonprofit boards across technology, consumer, financial, and automotive sectors.
Yoler was a founding board member of Tesla, helping guide the company from its earliest days through its public offering. She also served on the board of Interactive Investor International in London, supporting its IPO and subsequent acquisition by AMP Bank. She currently serves on the board of Voltera, Church & Dwight (NYSE: CHD), the NACD Northern California Chapter, and the technical advisory board of Aptiv, and is a venture partner at deep-tech venture firm Playground Global.
A former AI software engineer, Yoler has spent her career at the intersection of advanced technology and business strategy. She has played key roles in the development and launch of breakthrough products at companies including Qualcomm, Visa, Sun Microsystems, and Accenture, as well as at entrepreneurial ventures such as Zoox, DNA Direct, and Packet Design. As President of Qualcomm Labs and SVP of Business Development for Qualcomm, she led internal innovation initiatives and forged complex strategic partnerships and joint ventures. Earlier, as a founding managing director at GrowthPoint Technology Partners, she advised technology companies on M&A, strategic alliances, and capital raising.
Yoler graduated summa cum laude from Washington State University with a degree in management information systems and completed international business studies at the University of Copenhagen. She has pursued extensive executive education at Kellogg, Stanford, and INSEAD, and earned the CERT Certificate in Cybersecurity Oversight. She lectures at Stanford’s engineering, law, and business schools and has published research on board governance and technology oversight with Stanford and NACD.
