Laura Blacker Woodward

Laura Blacker Woodward earned her BA in German Studies in 1974 at the University of Indiana, Bloomington. She was selected to spend her senior year at IU in Germany at the University of Hamburg, where she experienced an intensive study of language, culture, society and economics, not to mention a rather comical first stab at the metric system. In her early career, she assisted law firms in their first steps towards the digital age, working in data entry, programming and customer service. After meeting her husband, Tom Woodward, at a softball league game in Malvern in 1979, she completed several accounting courses in order to become the Treasurer of his new startup technology company, Woodward McCoach, Inc. This company, which the Woodwards founded in the second bedroom of their apartment in 1983, is now a multimillion dollar venture that employs over 70 people in its West Chester, PA headquarters. Laura has had a lifelong interest in the performing arts, which has included singing with the IU Chorale, the Choir of the University of Hamburg and the Oratorio Society of Wayne, PA, as well as taking ballet and tap classes for many years and serving on the Board of Directors for the West Chester Ballet Theatre. She and her husband are also annual supporters of the Pennsylvania Ballet. An Indiana native and longstanding Irish fan, her involvement with the University began in earnest when her daughter, Katie, attended Notre Dame for her undergraduate and law degrees.