Laura Arnold

Last updated
Laura Arnold
Born
Laura Elena Muñoz

1972or1973(age 51–52)
Puerto Rico, U.S.
Education Harvard University (BA)
University of Cambridge (MPhil)
Yale University (JD)
Occupation(s)Philanthropist and Co-Founder of Arnold Ventures LLC
Spouse John Arnold

Laura Arnold (born 1972/1973) [1] is an American philanthropist and co-founder of Arnold Ventures LLC. [2] In addition to serving as co-chair of Arnold Ventures, Arnold became a founding partner of the REFORM Alliance, a national criminal justice advocacy organization in 2019. [2] [3] Prior to her work in philanthropy, she was a mergers-and-acquisitions lawyer and an executive at Cobalt International Energy.

Contents

Career

Arnold was a mergers-and-acquisitions lawyer at Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen and Katz in New York. [4] She then worked as executive vice president and general counsel of Cobalt International Energy in Houston until 2006. [5] She has degrees from Harvard (B.A. in government), Cambridge (Masters of Philosophy in European Studies), and Yale Law School (J.D.) and clerked for Judith W. Rogers, judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. [4] [5]

In 2010, Arnold was elected as a trustee to Rice University's board. Previously she was an adjunct professor of management at Rice's Jones Graduate School of Business. [5] She also was on the board for Teach for America, chaired the Civil Service Commission of the City of Houston, and served as a trustee of the Baylor College of Medicine and the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. [5]

She ran the Laura and John Arnold Foundation until 2012 when her husband, John Arnold, joined her. [4]

Arnold Ventures and philanthropy

Laura and John Arnold were two of the original signatories of the Giving Pledge in 2008, pledging to give at least half of their wealth away. [6] In 2010, they opened a private foundation that focuses on philanthropic efforts in the areas of education, health, tax policy, and criminal justice. [2] [7] In 2019, the foundation was restructured into an LLC and renamed Arnold Ventures. [8] It combines the Laura and John Arnold Foundation, their political giving group the Action Now Initiative, and their donor-advised fund. [9]

In 2013, during the federal government shutdown, the Arnolds donated $10 million to keep Head Start programs running and serving at-risk children. [10]

From 2010-2013, Arnold served on the board of the Innocence Project, an organization that focuses on exonerating individuals who have been wrongfully convicted. [7] In 2017, she gave a TEDx talk on the importance of using evidence-based data to solve problems and make policy decisions. [4] In May 2018, the Arnolds committed $20 million to the National Collaborative on Gun Violence Research. [11] In March 2019, the Arnolds announced the opening of the National Partnership for Pretrial Justice. [7]

In July 2019, Arnold joined the board of the REFORM Alliance, a criminal justice advocacy group founded by Jay-Z and Meek Mill. [2] [12]

In April 2021, Arnold committed to donating 5% of her wealth annually when she and her husband signed Global Citizen's "Give While You Live" campaign. [13] This is an effort to encourage more donations to charitable organizations. [13] Arnold and her husband are also leading the Initiative to Accelerate Charitable Giving, which, among other goals, wants Congress to raise giving requirements for donor-advised funds. [13] [14]

Personal life

Laura is married to John Arnold, and the couple have three children. [7]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Azim Premji</span> Indian business tycoon, investor (born 1945)

Azim Hashim Premji is an Indian businessman and philanthropist, who was the chairman of Wipro Limited. Premji remains a non-executive member of the board and founder chairman. He is informally known as the Czar of the Indian IT Industry. He was responsible for guiding Wipro through four decades of diversification and growth, to finally emerge as one of the global leaders in the software industry. In 2010, he was voted among the 20 most powerful men in the world by Asiaweek. He has twice been listed among the 100 most influential people by Time magazine, once in 2004 and more recently in 2011. For years, he has been regularly listed one among The 500 Most Influential Muslims. He also serves as the Chancellor of Azim Premji University, Bangalore. Premji was awarded Padma Vibhushan, India's second highest civilian award, by the Government of India.

Christy Ruth Walton is the widow of John T. Walton, one of the sons of Sam Walton, the founder of Walmart.

John Douglas Arnold is an American philanthropist, former Enron executive, and founder of Arnold Ventures LLC, formerly the Laura and John Arnold Foundation. In 2007, Arnold became the youngest billionaire in the U.S. His firm, Centaurus Advisors, LLC, was a Houston-based hedge fund specializing in trading energy products that closed in 2012. He now focuses on philanthropy through Arnold Ventures LLC. Arnold is a board member of Breakthrough Energy Ventures and since February 2024, is a member of the board of directors of Meta.

Alida Rockefeller Messinger is an American philanthropist who is an heir to the Rockefeller family fortune.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Laura Spelman Rockefeller</span> American philanthropist, schoolteacher

Laura Celestia "Cettie" Spelman Rockefeller was an American abolitionist, philanthropist, school teacher, and prominent member of the Rockefeller family. Her husband was Standard Oil co-founder John D. Rockefeller. Spelman College in Atlanta, Georgia, and the Laura Spelman Rockefeller Memorial were named for her.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jean Case</span> American businesswoman (born 1959)

Jean Case is an American businesswoman, author, and philanthropist who is chair of the board of National Geographic, CEO of Case Impact Network, and CEO of the Case Foundation. She is married to AOL co-founder Steve Case.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">David Rubenstein</span> American lawyer and businessman (born 1949)

David Mark Rubenstein is an American lawyer, businessman, and philanthropist. A former government official, he is a co-founder and co-chairman of The Carlyle Group, a private equity firm based in Washington, D.C. Rubenstein is also the principal owner of the Baltimore Orioles of Major League Baseball (MLB), acquiring them in 2024 for $1.7 billion.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">MacKenzie Scott</span> American philanthropist and novelist (born 1970)

MacKenzie Scott is an American novelist, philanthropist, and ex-wife of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos. As of June 2024, she has a net worth of US$36.1 billion, owning a 4% stake in Amazon. As such, Scott came out of her divorce as the third-wealthiest woman in the United States and the 47th-wealthiest individual in the world. Scott was named the world's most powerful woman by Forbes in 2021 and one of Time's 100 most influential people in 2020.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Laura Arrillaga-Andreessen</span> American philanthropist, educator and author

Laura Arrillaga-Andreessen is an American educator and author.

Arnold Ventures LLC is a limited liability company focused on evidence-based philanthropy in a wide range of areas including criminal justice, education, health care, and public finance. The organization was founded by billionaires John D. Arnold and Laura Arnold in 2008.

Audrey Jones Beck was an American art collector and philanthropist who donated her personal art collection to the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. The John A. and Audrey Jones Beck Collection included impressionist and post-impressionist paintings, and the museum named its Audrey Jones Beck Building in her honor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robert F. Smith (investor)</span> American businessman and philanthropist (born 1962)

Robert Frederick Smith is an American billionaire businessman and philanthropist. He is the founder, chairman, and CEO of private equity firm Vista Equity Partners. He graduated from Cornell University with a chemical engineering degree and from Columbia Business School with an MBA, before working as an investment banker at Goldman Sachs. In 2019, while delivering the commencement speech at Morehouse College, Smith pledged to pay off the entire $34 million of student loan debt of all of the members of the 2019 graduating class.

Stacy Helen Schusterman is an American heiress and billionaire businesswoman. The daughter of oil executive Charles Schusterman and his wife, Lynn Schusterman, she is the founder of deepwater drilling company Samson Energy.

Open Philanthropy is a research and grantmaking foundation that makes grants based on the principles of effective altruism. It was founded as a partnership between GiveWell and Good Ventures. Its current chief executive officer is Alexander Berger, and its main funders are Cari Tuna and Dustin Moskovitz. Moskovitz says that their wealth, worth $16 billion, "belongs to the world. We intend not to have much when we die."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cari Tuna</span> American nonprofit businessperson

Cari Tuna is an American nonprofit businessperson. Formerly a reporter for The Wall Street Journal, she co-founded and works for the organizations Open Philanthropy and Good Ventures.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nat Simons</span> American businessman

Nathaniel Simons is an American billionaire hedge fund manager and philanthropist. He is the founder of Meritage Group, an investment management firm managing over $12 billion in assets, co-founder of Prelude Ventures, a clean tech investment fund, and is the former co-chair of Renaissance Technologies, one of the largest hedge funds in the world.

Ella Florence Fondren was a philanthropist to hospitals and institutions of higher learning.

Laura Anne Bilodeau Overdeck is an American math education entrepreneur and philanthropist. Overdeck is the founder and president of the Bedtime Math Foundation, a nonprofit that seeks to bring recreational math to children through their parents.

Clara Wu Tsai is an American businesswoman, philanthropist, and social justice activist. She is a co-owner of the Brooklyn Nets, the New York Liberty, the San Diego Seals, and Barclays Center. She is the founder of the Joe and Clara Tsai Foundation, a philanthropic organization; the Social Justice Fund, which focuses on economic mobility and racial justice; the Wu Tsai Human Performance Alliance, which funds health and scientific research; and is a founding partner of REFORM Alliance, a nonprofit focused on prison and parole reform in the United States.

References

  1. ↑ Rogers, Taylor Nicole (August 18, 2019). "Meet Laura Arnold, the Billionaire Philanthropist Taking on the Parole System with Jay-Z and Meek Mill". Bloomberg News . Retrieved September 21, 2021.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Rogers, Taylor Nicole. "Meet Laura Arnold, the billionaire philanthropist taking on the parole system with Jay-Z and Meek Mill". Business Insider. Retrieved 2021-08-17.
  3. ↑ "Laura Arnold '00 | Yale Law School". law.yale.edu. Retrieved 2024-09-18.
  4. 1 2 3 4 "Two Texas Billionaires Think They Can Fix Philanthropy". www.bloomberg.com. Retrieved 2021-08-17.
  5. 1 2 3 4 "Rice University elects four new trustees". news.rice.edu. Retrieved 2021-08-17.
  6. ↑ "Pressing for Social Justice Is Essential, Says Laura Arnold, but Here's What Makes It Hard for Megadonors". www.philanthropy.com. Retrieved 2021-08-17.
  7. 1 2 3 4 Moxley, Abby Schultz and Mitch. "Changemakers: The Leaders Reshaping Communities Around the World". www.barrons.com. Retrieved 2021-08-17.
  8. ↑ "John Arnold and wife Laura give five per cent of wealth to Global Citizen". The CEO Magazine. Retrieved 2021-08-17.
  9. ↑ Schultz, Abby. "Houston's John and Laura Arnold Change Tacks on Philanthropy". www.barrons.com. Retrieved 2021-08-17.
  10. ↑ "Laura and John Arnold donate $10 million to help Head Start amid government shutdown". CBS News. Retrieved 2021-09-07.
  11. ↑ "Arnold Foundation Commits $20 Million for Gun Violence Research". Philanthropy News Digest. 2018-06-04.
  12. ↑ "Laura Arnold". REFORM Alliance. Retrieved 2021-08-17.
  13. 1 2 3 "Billionaires John, Laura Arnold to give 5% of wealth yearly". ABC News. Retrieved 2021-08-17.
  14. ↑ Block, Fang. "Billionaire Philanthropists John and Laura Arnold to Give at Least 5% of Their Wealth Annually". www.barrons.com. Retrieved 2021-08-17.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.