Laura leads the Assurance division which is responsible for Preferred by Nature’s certification and auditing services delivered by regional teams and partners across six continents.
As director of Preferred by Nature’s Assurance division, Laura Terrall Kohler oversees our worldwide delivery of forestry, agriculture, traceability/chain of custody, and tourism auditing programs.
Laura has been working in sustainability certification since 2000, and has extensive experience across standards development, auditing systems and training, third-party accreditation, and quality management. Starting as a certification client manager in 2000, she supported participation and value in certification programmes by identifying specific client needs to ensure a comprehensive audit experience. She then moved into quality assurance management, training and certification systems development.
Laura has a BSc in Biology from Southern Oregon University, and has successfully completed ISO 9001 Quality Management Systems Lead Auditor training. She has experience as a lead auditor for Chain of Custody and Controlled Wood, and internal quality control.
Laura is based in Portland, Oregon. She joined Preferred by Nature in 2018.
Having a positive impact starts with forming partnerships. Preferred by Nature´s approach towards achieving its mission has a foundation in building and sustaining relationships across certification clients, scheme/standard owners, global and local stakeholders, content experts, and our regionally-based partners on the ground. Having this solid network is essential for our work to have lasting results, and I am proud to be part of this sustainability alliance.
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Management of business and service delivery
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Quality management systems
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Project management
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Standard development and technical working groups
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BSc in Biology
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Languages spoken: English
