Audra Ladd

Audra Ladd is Director of Research & Experimentation at Mechanism, where she brings her passion for locally made goods, small business development, and sustainable manufacturing. As the former director of Economic Development for Nashville/Davidson County TN, and a small-batch product business owner herself, she understands firsthand the challenges and opportunities that come with building strong local economies.

Audra now lives on a small farm in the Northeast where she aspires to grow lots of vegetables, a few dye plants and start an apple orchard. She is committed to the intersection of economic development, climate action, and the resurgence of American manufacturing.

A natural risk-taker, Audra has repelled down the inside of a defunct volcano in Guatemala, swam with the penguins in the Galapagos, and winter camped in the white mountains of New Hampshire. However, her proudest achievement is balancing a meaningful career while raising her two daughters, setting an example of hard work, passion, creativity and perseverance.