Laura Baxter-Simons

Laura Baxter-Simons is general counsel and chief compliance officer at Meritage Group, a U.S.-based investment management firm, and has worked in the financial industry with her husband, Nat Simons, for over 25 years. Prior to Meritage, Ms. Baxter- Simons worked at Renaissance Technologies, a quantitative hedge fund, as legal counsel from 1996 to 2011. Ms. Baxter-Simons has been involved in climate philanthropy since 2006 as well as climate-tech investing since 2009. She and her husband serve as co-directors of Sea Change Foundation and Sea Change Foundation International, which focus on climate mitigation globally. They are also the co- founders of Prelude Ventures, a family-held, climate-tech investment fund. Ms. Baxter-Simons served on the board of trustees of Head-Royce School in Oakland for 10 years, on the National Campaign Steering Committee for the Light the Way Campaign, and on the UC Berkeley L&S Advisory Board. She currently serves on the Stanford Law School Dean’s Advisory Council. Ms. Baxter-Simons and Mr. Simons are Builders of Berkeley and members of the Giving Pledge and the Breakthrough Energy Coalition. They have two children, who both live and work in New York City.