Laura Burkemper

Laura Burkemper is a business owner, startup investor, and adjunct professor who serves as CEO of The Catalyst Center positioning company and brands for investment, scale, and sale. We Build Brand Capital™ by aligning business, brand, marketing, and sales strategies to grow topline revenue. Local, national, and international companies hire Laura to strategize their future, build their brand, align their teams, and scale their business. At The Catalyst Center, we believe, “the clearer the mission, the higher the margin™.
Her passion is in building iconic brands and scaling companies. Laura’s background includes holding senior leadership roles in corporate strategy, brand, and innovation for three of the world’s largest “start-ups turned grown-ups” including Express Scripts, McDonald’s Corporation, and Coca-Cola — elevating organization, people, and product performance. Additionally, she held C-level positions for privately held companies including Wellth Holdings (venture fund), GROUP360 Worldwide (marketing services agency), and HAVI (global supply chain management, packaging, and market analytics).
Laura earned her MBA in international business from Saint Louis University, where she has been a Senior Adjunct Professor since 2010 teaching graduate courses in New Venture Feasibility, New Venture Launch, and Corporate Innovation (think TV’s “Shark Tank”). This year the graduate entrepreneurship program was named 12th in the nation of 2,600+ programs by U.S. News World Report.
Lastly, Laura is an investor in 79 global startups. She serves as a lead mentor for Stadia Ventures, and an advisor to Capital Innovators, Arch Grants, and UMSL Accelerate. Laura serves as a strategic advisor to FedTech in collaboration with NASA, DoD, DoE, NIST, VA, BARDA, NSIN, universities, and corporations. Laura also serves on the University of Missouri–St. Louis alumni governing and executive boards and has had the pleasure of giving the alumni commencement speech in 2015, and 2018 honoring the class and its’ 100,000th graduate, and in 2022.
Laura has been featured in INC Magazine, Shareholder Magazine, The Business Journal, Entrepreneur Quarterly, and National Public Radio to name a few. Overall, Laura is dedicated to the growth of individuals, businesses, and the entrepreneurial spirit.
Email – laura@thecatalystcenter.com
Mobile – 314.570.1031