Laura Fortman

Laura A. Fortman
Fortman at U.S. Department of Labor signing ceremony in 2014
Born	1954 (age 62–63) Brooklyn, New York
Nationality	United States
Education	B.A. history, University of New Hampshire M.A. leadership, Northeastern University
Occupation	Deputy administrator, Wage and Hour Division, United States Department of Labor
Years active	2013–present
Known for	Executive director, Maine Women's Lobby, 1993–2003 Commissioner, Maine Department of Labor, 2003–2011
Awards	Maine Women's Hall of Fame, 2007
Website	blog.dol.gov/author/laura-fortman/

Laura A. Fortman (born 1954) is an American government employee, non-profit executive, and women's rights activist. Since 2013 she has served as deputy administrator of the Wage and Hour Division at the United States Department of Labor in Washington, D.C. Previously she was commissioner of the Maine Department of Labor, and executive director of the Frances Perkins Center, the Maine Women's Lobby, and the Sexual Assault Crisis and Support Center of Augusta. She was inducted into the Maine Women's Hall of Fame in 2007.

Fortman was born in Brooklyn, New York in 1954. In 1980, while living in Charleston, South Carolina, Fortman was attacked in her home by a rapist. This experience motivated her to adopt the cause of women's rights.

Fortman earned her bachelor's degree in history at the University of New Hampshire. She completed a certification course in Senior Executives in State and Local Government at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. She earned her master's degree in leadership at Northeastern University.

From 1982 to 1985 Fortman served as program coordinator for the Women’s Resource Center in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. In the mid-1980s she relocated to Maine and in September 1987 assumed the executive directorship of the Sexual Assault Crisis and Support Center in Augusta, where she advocated on behalf of women and child victims of sexual assault and domestic violence. She remained in this post until December 1992.