Lara has held several strategic leadership and board positions, most recently as founder and Chief Executive of LocatED, the highly successful arm’s length property company owned by the Department for Education. Lara has over 25 years of experience in property deals and complex capital investment projects, and is known for her unrelenting energy, plus her ability to successfully join the dots.

Now at the helm of Common Ground, a brand new type of campaigning company, this CIC was set up by Lara in April 2026 and uses income from its industry leading property consultancy to disrupt and smash the status quo in property and built environment careers. 

The first in her family to go to university, Lara has seen first‑hand how informal networks, privilege and opaque career routes exclude capable people.  She is always willing to tell her own story and champions the idea that young people “can’t be what they can’t see".