Laura Taylor-Kale

About

Laura Taylor-Kale is a senior fellow for geoeconomics and defense at the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR). From 2023-2025, she served as the first presidentially-appointed, senate-confirmed assistant secretary for industrial base policy in the Department of Defense. In that role, she led all defense industrial strategy, investments, and planning. She also led the Department in developing and publishing the first-ever National Defense Industrial Strategy and Implementation Plan.

Taylor-Kale previously served as deputy assistant secretary for manufacturing in the International Trade Administration in the Department of Commerce, leading a team of trade policy professionals in breaking barriers in the export of U.S. manufactured goods around the world. She has also held positions at the World Bank and the U.S. Overseas Private Investment Corporation. Taylor-Kale began her career in the U.S. Department of State serving as a foreign service office in India, Cote D’Ivoire, Afghanistan, the executive board of the World Bank, and the Bureau of Economic and Business Affairs.  

Taylor-Kale earned her PhD in management science and engineering with a concentration in organizations, technology and entrepreneurship from Stanford University’s School of Engineering. She holds an MPA from Princeton University’s School of Public and International Affairs, an MBA in finance and management from New York University’s Stern School of Business, and a BA in economics from Smith College.