Laura Burkemper

SCALEBLAZER® turns bold brands into market-dominating companies. We believe that the clearer the mission, the higher the margin, the greater the impact. Whether you’re raising investment, building your brand, or planning an exit, we guide CEOs, visionary leaders, and celebrity brands to align story and strategy—positioning them for Investment | Scale | Sale™. This is your roadmap from bold idea to unstoppable brand. Our proprietary frameworks—Idea Leadership,™, Investable Storytelling™, Building Brand Capital™, and Negotiating Better Outcomes™—help leaders attract awareness, accelerate growth, and elevate strategic positioning. At SCALEBLAZER®, we don’t just build brands. We build valuation.™

I start with the fierce belief that entrepreneurship changes lives. I’ve built brands from zero to scale, led transformation inside Fortune 100 organizations, and invested in more than 80 emerging ventures. Across every stage—startup, scale-up, and exit—the pattern is clear: with the right strategy, disciplined execution, and a compelling story, growth is not accidental. It’s engineered. I’m a speaker, strategic advisor, and positioning architect who helps leaders articulate their value with clarity and precision. When the story is right, capital follows, customers convert, and organizations align. Through my proprietary frameworks— Idea Leadership™, Investable Storytelling™, Building Brand Capital™, and Negotiating Better Outcomes™—I turn bold ideas into companies built to lead. When I step on stage or into a boardroom, my goal is simple: to clarify the vision, sharpen the strategy, and provide the tools to move ideas from Startup to Grownup™. Because the truth is—you don’t need permission to play big. You just need a strategy that scales. Simplify. Clarify. Unify. Amplify.™

As a member of the Harvard Business Review Advisory Council, I collaborate with an invited group of diverse professionals to shape HBR content, providing insights on emerging trends in management and leadership that drive global business conversations.

I'm proud to serve on the board of Frick’s Quality Meats and contribute to its continued growth & success. Since 1896, Frick’s has been dedicated to providing America with a superior dining experience, offering fresh, flavorful smoked meat products. As a fifth-generation, family-owned American brand, Frick’s remains committed to delivering high-quality meats both in-store and online, backed by unmatched operational excellence and exceptional service.

As a Strategic Advisor, I help transform cutting-edge innovations into groundbreaking solutions that have a meaningful impact on society. This is achieved through high-level strategic collaborations with NASA, the Department of Defense, the Department of Energy, NSIN, BARDA, NIST, VA, federal labs, research institutions, universities, and corporations. We help to turn potential into possible.

Stadia Ventures: Driving Innovation in Sports & Esports 🌍 At Stadia Ventures, I served as an investor, mentor, and founding member of a global venture capital firm and sports business accelerator that fueled innovation and growth in sports and esports. By leveraging expertise in education, investment, and industry connections, I helped entrepreneurs build and scale their businesses. Impact: ✔️ 78 portfolio companies ✔️ 16 successful exits (to Ticketmaster, Teamworks, Blast Motion, Alpha Esports, and more) ✔️ 4,500 global lifetime applications ✔️ 92 countries represented by our applicants ✔️ 45% of portfolio companies led by women or persons of color ✔️ Over $350M in capital raised by our startups 📍 Locations: St. Louis, MO | Frisco, TX | Denver, CO | UK I’m proud to have been part of a team that first championed innovation and entrepreneurship in sports and esports. Let’s keep raising the game!

Entrepreneurship isn’t limited to startups—it’s a mindset that enables visionary leaders to transform existing organizations into market-dominating companies. As a Senior Adjunct Professor at Saint Louis University, I am passionate about cultivating an entrepreneurial mindset in graduate students—whether they’re launching new ventures or driving innovation within established companies. Through my courses, New Venture Feasibility, New Venture Launch, and Corporate Innovation, I equip future leaders with the practical tools, strategic insights, and real-world insight they can apply immediately to accelerate growth and create lasting impact I’m proud to be part of SLU’s nationally recognized graduate entrepreneurship program, consistently ranked among the best in the country for 30 years: 🏆 #12 out of 2,634 programs by U.S. News & World Report 🏆 #16 out of 2,634 programs by The Princeton Review It’s an honor to contribute to shaping the next generation of entrepreneurial leaders!

As CEO of WELLTH Holdings, I lead the company’s mission to acquire, invest in, and scale high-potential CPG brands rooted in health, wellness, and well-being. Reporting directly to the Chairman of the Board, I helped shape the strategic direction that positioned the portfolio for sustainable growth, long-term value creation, and meaningful consumer impact. Portfolio Spotlight: WINESTIQ Developed by an innovative R&D scientist, WINESTIQ reimagines the wine-drinking experience by instantly removing sulfite preservatives from red, white, rosé, and sparkling wines—without changing taste, color, or aroma. This matters because sulfite preservatives are known to trigger headaches, congestion, flushing, and upset stomach for many consumers. With WINESTIQ, wine lovers can enjoy their favorite wines while aligning with a cleaner, more health-conscious lifestyle. This is an example of how science-backed innovation can unlock new value in established consumer categories.

Leading Brand Strategy, I provided strategic guidance, innovative solutions, and thought leadership to St. Louis’ largest startup-turned-Forbes Most Innovative Company. My work focused on aligning the organization’s brand, which helped to fuel organic growth, strengthen brand equity, and increase shareholder value. Express Scripts’ was sold to Cigna for $67B in 2018. 💡From Startup to Industry Leader 🏆 Founded in 1986 with just 5 employees and a bold idea to disrupt healthcare, Express Scripts grew into the nation’s largest independent pharmacy benefit manager (PBM), serving 83M Americans and making prescription medication safer and more affordable. 📊 Key Impact Metrics: ✅ $101 B revenue ✅ Fortune 500: #22 | Global 500: #52 ✅ World’s Most Admired Companies (Fortune, 2017) ✅ Forbes Most Innovative Companies (2014, 2015) ✅ #1 Independent PBM in the U.S. ✅ 140+ Patents driven by employee innovations ✅ 3,000 clients ✅ 27,000 employees | 83 M members (~1 in 4 Americans) Proud to have contributed to shaping a company that transformed healthcare through strategic branding, innovation, and meaningful impact. #BrandStrategy #Innovation #HealthcareLeadership #BusinessGrowth #MergersAndAcquisitions

In my role, I contributed to shaping the firm’s global strategic direction, organizational design, and operational alignment. My focus was on leading strategic brand and marketing communications, global business development, and public relations initiatives, which helped open new growth opportunities, diversify revenue streams, and improve operational efficiencies—directly contributing to top-line sales growth and overall bottom-line profitability. A key highlight was leading the company’s repositioning efforts, which included revitalizing our brand identity, adopting a new company name, and updating our brand standards. I also led the creation of a fully integrated B2B and B2C sales and marketing platform, which spanned web, video, digital, interactive, and collateral content—implemented both domestically and internationally. I spearheaded the development of our mission, vision, and core values, and the restructuring the organization to better align people and processes with our strategic goals and core competencies. This was all part of supporting our Integrated Route-to-Market™ approach, which yielded improvements in cost control and asset management across our portfolio. Through effective client engagement and team development strategies, Laura successfully built awareness and generated sales opportunities, contributing to a remarkable 43% increase in revenue within two years. Additionally, I oversaw the design and buildout of our 53,000 sq. ft. headquarters, managing key aspects including workflow optimization, technology and space planning, and construction design and management, furnishings, budget oversight, and relocating 200+ employees. This project resulted in a collaborative space that enhanced both employee and client engagement.

Negotiation Mastery is a certificate program from Harvard Business School. Negotiation Mastery prepares students to close deals that might otherwise be dead-locked, maximize value creation in agreements, and resolve differences before they escalate into costly conflicts. The program provides both an analytical toolkit and interpersonal techniques for dealing effectively with different bargaining styles and tactics. Negotiation Mastery was developed by leading Harvard Business School faculty and is delivered in the HBS signature case-based learning model.

Selected as 1 of 63 people from 14 countries to the Global Symposia for Entrepreneurship Educators