Donna LaSala

Donna LaSala is director of Presidio Graduate School’s Dual Degree (MBA/MPA) Program where she co-teaches the "Civic Leadership, Diversity, & Systems Thinking" and "Multisector Solutions for Sustainable Partnerships" courses. She is a strategic, results-oriented practitioner with more than 28 years experience leading public, private and non-profit organizations.

Before teaching at Presidio Graduate School full time and leading its Masters in Public Administration program, LaSala served as COO/CIO at Goodwill Industries, CIO/IT Director at City of Berkeley, and CEO of the Triple Bottom Line Institute (TBLi). At these organizations, she spearheaded the development of multisector financial, environmental, and social justice programs. She is an alumna of the Senior Executives in State and Local Government program at Harvard University and the International Labor Relations Diversity & Inclusion program at Cornell University. LaSala is known at PGS for encouraging students to develop “analyst/activist” skills for leadership across business, government, and civic society, as well as for introducing students to a range of contacts and guest speakers from her professional network of small/large nonprofits, academic institutions in seven countries, and dozens of government agencies. She is a passionate advocate for harnessing the power of education for financial, environmental, and social sustainability, with specific focus on gender and race equity, income/wealth mobility, ethical frameworks for performance measurement, data analysis, and business intelligence, broadening civic participation, prison reform, and workplace certification programs. MPA, University of San Francisco BS, Policy Analysis and Economics, Cornell University