Laura Burley is the Global General Manager of Government Relations and Public Policy at Xero - the small business platform trusted by over 1.32 million small businesses. At Xero, the mission is simple but powerful: to make life better for people in small businesses, their advisors and communities around the world. Laura's role is to ensure that mission shapes policy, and that the voices of small businesses are heard loud and clear at the highest levels of governments.
Laura has over twenty years of experience championing small businesses, technology, health and education in the political and policy arena. She is a proud campaigner bringing technology to life for the benefit of society and the economy - most notably in helping to campaign against late payments to SMEs. Her career has spanned the UK Parliament - where she worked for the Chair of the House of Commons Science and Technology Committee - to the charity sector, where she led successful campaigns on behalf of Breast Cancer Care such as the abolition of prescription charges in England. Before joining Xero in 2022, she led the Government Aff airs team at The Open University, playing a pivotal role in advocating for lifelong learning initiatives and championing skills and apprenticeships policy for small businesses.
At Xero, Laura has most recently been at the forefront of leading the campaign to embed financial confidence in education. Xero's Financial Confidence Taskforce is calling on the UK Government to radically rethink how financial literacy and enterprise are taught - from the classroom to the workplace - so that starting and growing a business is an aspirational, viable path for everyone, regardless of background.
Laura is a founding board member of Women in Public Aff airs and is an Adviser at The Entrepreneurs Network.
- LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/laura-burley-xero
