Laura Gutiérrez, Executive Director

Laura Gutiérrez, Chief Executive Officer

Laura Gutiérrez currently serves as the Chief Executive Officer at the United Community Center in Milwaukee, WI. Laura returns to the center after many years here previously in a variety of roles including Assistant Principal and Director of Instruction at Bruce Guadalupe Community School, as well as classroom teacher and a Drug Prevention Outreach worker when she was just a teen at UCC’s New Beginnings Clinic.

Just prior to returning to UCC, Laura was appointed in February 2017 to the position Secretary of the Department of Safety and Professional Services for the state of Wisconsin. In this position she led a staff of more than 250, and managed a biennial budget of $100M.

She grew up in Milwaukee and graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree from Carroll College and a Master of Arts in Leadership and Policy from Marquette University. She also completed the District Administrator Licensure Program at Cardinal Stritch University and received her Superintendent license in 2016.

Before working for the State of Wisconsin, Laura most recently served as Vice President of Academic Affairs at St. Anthony School in Milwaukee. Previously, Laura served as an elementary and middle school instructor in various capacities and also worked as a clinical and microbiology laboratory assistant at Waukesha Memorial Hospital. She resides in Wind Lake with her husband George, and together, they have four children.

Laura has been Chief Executive Officer since May of 2020. Since that time, she has led the agency through one of the more challenging years in its history. With broad agency closures, Laura and the UCC Leadership team fought to continue services all to client groups including being one of the only public schools in the city of Milwaukee to re-open in September 2020 for in-person learning. With the client and community needs as priority, the team continues to ensure services continue in any format possible.

Laura Gutiérrez, Chief Executive Officer

Leadership Team