Executive Director

Todd Lawrence is executive director for Urban Green Lab, a nonprofit organization based in Nashville, Tennessee, which teaches communities how to live sustainable, healthy lives.

A Nashville native, Todd spent the last 15 years on the frontlines of global health, with a focus on strengthening marginalized communities and programs that advance social change. Prior to Urban Green Lab, Todd managed community education initiatives for the Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center, targeting high-risk and underserved populations, and chaired the middle Tennessee chapter of Cervical Cancer Free Tennessee. He taught International Leadership as an adjunct instructor with the Human & Organizational Development program at Vanderbilt University’s Peabody College of Education and advised students in the Vanderbilt Institute for Global Health.

Before returning home in 2013, Todd spent two years in South Sudan with the Carter Center’s Guinea Worm Eradication Program (a waterborne parasite) where his team contributed to a 69 percent reduction in disease cases nationwide. He spent five years with the Global Health Council in Washington, DC, leading the International AIDS Candlelight Memorial (one of the world’s first AIDS awareness campaigns), mobilizing some 1,200 nongovernmental organizations in 119 countries, and contributing to the Council’s policy advocacy efforts for increasing federal global health spending. Todd also trained community health workers as a Peace Corps volunteer on rural farms in Zambia.

Todd has a masters in International Development from American University and a bachelors in Political Science from Furman University. He is a member of the Mayor's Livable Nashville Committee, Resilient Nashville Steering Committee, Nashville's Solid Waste Master Plan Task Force, board of the Cordell Hull Chapter of the United Nations Association (UNA), advisory council of the Nashville Food Waste Initiative, and advisory council for Tennessee's chapter of the United States Global Leadership Coalition (USGLC). With his outstanding team of experts and volunteers, Todd hopes to ensure that future generations live more sustainable lives in the city that raised him, especially during this unprecedented era of anthropogenic climate change and rapid urban growth.

When not working, Todd is in love with photography, dogs, and family – his ultimate priority.