A big heart.
A bolder vision.

Laura Lea Newcomb has spent her life in service of others — first in the classroom, then in the boardroom, and always in her community. A teacher and administrator by training, she founded the Autism Academy for Education and Development in 2012 after seeing first-hand how many children on the spectrum were being underserved. Today the Academy welcomes nearly 700 students across four Arizona campuses, and her A+ Charter Schools carry that same belief to students in grades 7 through 12.

Her work extends far beyond education. Through her family trust she invests in commercial, residential and vacation real estate across Arizona, and her ventures — from Empowered Adult Services and the Donald Newcomb Foundation, founded in loving memory of her late husband, to HOTWORX, Olive Branch Boutique, Crave Protein Cafe and National Notary Solutions — each answer a real need she saw in the people around her.

Laura's true mission is captured in three words: glean, grow, and gather. Through H.E.R. — Health, Education, Real Estate, and Community Empowerment — she champions Kids First thinking, project-based learning, and partnerships with organizations like Art One Gallery, Special Olympics, the Autism Society of America, Bell Bank Park and Carlisle Companies. Brilliant, bighearted and bold, she leads with a compassion for Christ, children, and community — and a vision that every person she touches leaves with more possibility than they arrived with.