Laura Black has extensive governance experience in economic development, research and community organisations. This includes as the Independent Chair on the Dunedin Multidisciplinary Health and Development Research Study Governance Group, as Chair of Otago Science into Action, and as Deputy Chair at the Otago Museum Trust Board. She has a consultant for the Family and Sexual Violence Multi-Agency Initiative and the Social Wellbeing Agency and was the Head of the Alumni and Development Office at the University of Otago. She is the Director of the Methodist Mission Southern.