Freeman Means Business

Laraine McKinnon is founder of LMC17, a strategic consulting firm that blends behavioral science, big data and practical implementation ideas to address hard to solve problems. The firm currently focuses on HR initiatives that drive employee engagement: diversity & inclusion, key talent processes such as hiring, retention and promotion, talent development for under-served populations, and retirement readiness.

Laraine is also an Advisor and Talent & Culture Strategist for Emtrain, a CultureTech firm focused on creating healthy workplace cultures. Laraine guides progressive companies through initiatives for sexual harassment prevention, diversity, inclusion & belonging, and managing unconscious bias, and delivers data and insights on their unique workplace behavioral dynamics to help uncover blind spots and opportunities to create more respectful workplaces.

Prior to these roles, Laraine was a Managing Director at BlackRock where she worked with HR and Finance executives at Fortune 500 companies to optimize retirement readiness. Laraine specialized in using 401(k) plans to increase employee engagement, improve workforce management, and deliver better outcomes in retirement. She is the author of “Known: How to Create a Great 401(k)” and serves as an Advisor to Betterment for Business.

In a volunteer capacity, Laraine is President of The CLUB Silicon Valley, a diverse community of professionals helping women leaders accelerate their careers. She founded and runs the CLUB’s talent Incubator to help high-performing, high-potential women get around career roadblocks and become known for their expertise.

Laraine was named a Silicon Valley Business Times “Woman of Influence" in 2018 and holds a women's studies and political science degree from Wellesley College, and a certificate in Diversity and Inclusion for HR from Cornell University.