Laurel Singer, MS, NPCC Executive Director
laurels@pdx.edu | (503) 725-8224
Since joining NPCC in 2006, Laurel has held several leadership roles, including the role of executive director since 2015. She has played a part in increasing the center’s contributions to communities, students, and government decision makers locally, nationally, and internationally. She launched the NPCC academic and training program and the NPCC research program, which identifies best practices in the collaborative governance field. As executive director, Laurel has guided NPCC through its evolution into a mature organization with the resources, partnerships, and skilled staff to bring people together to tackle tough public issues and to implement civic projects that sustain communities. Laurel describes her work at NPCC as one of the greatest joys of her life.
Laurel's work at NPCC builds on her thirty years of experience as a pioneer, champion, practitioner, and teacher of mediation. She is co-author of the textbook Collaborative Governance: Principles, Processes, and Practical Tools along with her NPCC colleagues Steve Greenwood and Wendy Willis. Laurel has received the Oregon Mediation Association’s Bryan Johnston Award in recognition of her outstanding service in the public policy mediation field. Laurel has also worked extensively in the human service arena, where she helped pioneer the first parent-adolescent mediation program in the Northwest. Laurel holds a master’s degree in counseling psychology from the University of Oregon and is enrolled in the public affairs and policy PhD program at Portland State University.
With her two sons now grown, Laurel has more time to pursue her passion for following trails far into the woods—a passion that has taken the form of multi-day hikes in countries around the world from Finland to Ireland. Even so, after walking the entire Oregon Coast Trail in summer 2023, Laurel is convinced that there is no place like home!