Directors

Marcy Bevan, Director, Admissions and External Affairs, Lauder Institute

Thomas Egeman ‘97 –
Objective for participation in the LIAA Board:
- Formulate and implement initiatives to increase value of Alumni network (McKinsey and Harvard seem to be quite good models to consider)
- Foster more frequent and rewarding contacts between Alumni and Governors' body
- Build on the success of LIAA to date in all additional aspects of its activity

Contribution to Lauder Institute:
- Co-Chairman of the Organising Committee for the London Reunion (2006-2007)
- Consulting recruiting events at the Institute, as Accenture's head of European Recruiting team

Professional background
- Current - Head of Strategy and Corporate Development, Barclays Global Investors
- Former – Owner and Managing Director - 4Rader Ltd. consulting business to I-banks and Financial institutions
- Former - Senior Manager Strategy  - Accenture - Financial Services practice

Katalin Horvath ‘96 – Katalin Horvath ('96 Lauder French program) is a business development manager at John Lewis Partnership, a London-based chain of department stores and premium supermarkets in the UK.  Before joining John Lewis in 2005, she worked in investment banking corporate finance for nine years, of which two at ING Barings responsible for Central & Eastern Europe and seven at BNP Paribas focusing on Italy, France and Spain in the media/telecom sector.

An American who has been living in London since graduation, Katalin loves cooking for friends, red wine, interior decorating, photography, trekking andtraveling the world. She was on the organizing committee for the Lauder Global Business Forum/All Alumni Reunion held in London in October 2007, and wants to play a greater role in keeping the Lauder alumni community together.

Sarah Laessig ‘97 - Sarah Laessig graduated from Lauder in 1997. Upon graduation Sarah joined Citi as an Emerging Markets Management Associate, working in Panama, South Africa, Hong Kong and Warsaw over the course of the two year training program.  Sarah is now a Senior Relationship Manager in Citi's Global Commercial Bank London office, responsible for a portfolio of UK government and European based multi-lateral organizations. Sarah has 10+ years of relationship and transaction banking experience, having covered clients and markets in the corporate and public sectors in UK, Belgium, France, and Switzerland.

Recently, Sarah was a member of the organizing committee of the Lauder Institute 2007 Global Alumni Forum held in London. She is keen to take a role on the LIAA board, where she would plan to work with fellow board members to increase the visibility, membership, and the number and range of activities of the LIAA in London, and in the UK and Europe more broadly.

Charles Rashall ‘90 – Charles Rashall is a recognized expert who has led the development and execution of comprehensive branding/marketing programs for some of the world’s most respected brands.  He founded brandadvisors in 2001 to help companies better compete and innovate through a unique service approach based on objectivity, breadth and depth of expertise, and dedicated senior level client attention.  Among the brands that he has or is currently engaged in shaping over his career include Cisco, Dun & Bradstreet, DuPont, Hennessy, Jackson Family Wines, J.P.Morgan, Johnson & Johnson, Lincoln Mercury, Looney Tunes, Lucent Technologies, NFL, Novartis, NPR, Pimco Funds, Pizza Hut, Siemens, Shutterfly, Rheingold Beer, QuickBooks, XOJET, Whirlpool, and Whitefish Mountain Resort.  One of Charles’ most proud achievements is his work in leading the repositioning and rebranding of Federal Express to FedEx.

Earlier, Charles served as Executive Director at Landor Associates, Partner & Chief Brand Strategist at CKS (later USWeb/CKS and MarchFirst), and headed worldwide marketing at AltaVista.  He spent 6 years at NCR where he won local, regional, and national honors in sales and product management.  He also counseled LVMH/Guinness Groups’ wine and spirits business in Asia.  Charles began his career on Capital Hill as a Congressional intern and later served as press secretary to a California state senator.  Charles earned joint degrees in business and international studies/Mandarin Chinese from The Wharton School/University of Pennsylvania where he is also a Fellow at the Lauder Institute.  He holds a B.S. in Marketing and Finance from the University of California at Berkeley and received a certificate in cuisine from the Ritz Escofier in Paris.  His love of teaching brings him back to University campuses and to corporations and conferences as a guest lecturer.  His work for Rheingold Beer has become a case study at the NYU Stern School of Business.  In his spare time, Charles enjoys a variety of sports, has a passion for photography, graphic art, and classic design and plays drums professionally whenever the opportunity may arise.

Norm Savoie ’91 – Norm Savoie is a graduate of the Class of 1991, Portuguese program.  His undergraduate degree is a BA in Economics from Penn.  Norm has been involved with LIAA from its very inception, having been instrumental in the planning for the first Global Business Forum and All-Alumni Reunion in New York in 2004.  Along with John Buggie and Bob McEvoy, and working with the Lauder Institute (particularly Marcy Bevan), Norm helped develop the by-laws of LIAA.  He has served as co-Chairman of LIAA since 2004.  Norm secured the organization's 501(c)3 status and has managed the organization's finances.  He has also helped organize various of the organization's activities, spoken as a panelist at the LIAA Finance Panel in 2005 and worked closely with the London Organizing Committee in planning the recent highly-successful 2nd Global Business Forum and All-Alumni Reunion.

Going forward, Norm would like to see LIAA continue to sponsor various activities in cities around the world, would like to upgrade the website to build in greater interactivity and would like to foster stronger links between LIAA and the Lauder Institute Board of Governors and with the students.   Norm is currently employed as a financial advisor with Smith Barney in New York.

Christine Schiller Grable ’00 - Christine Schiller Grable spent her childhood in Guadalajara, Mexico, high school in Houston, Texas and her early adulthood between New York, New England, Germany and London. Christine graduated from Columbia University with a double degree in Ancient History and Art History, and spent the next ten years working in a variety of arts institutions including the Museum of Modern Art, the Menil Collection and the Royal Academy of Arts in London, England. It was her work managing the retail catalog division of the RA in London that peaked her interest in pursuing a business degree, and her international experiences which led her specifically to the French track of the Lauder Institute program. Since graduation from Wharton/Lauder in 2000, Christine has helped to evolve the B2B marketing organization at Dell Inc. from a regional structure to a global organization with world-wide scope and tools. Specifically, Christine has focused on standardizing Dell's approach to business customer acquisitions and in developing a proprietary marketing tool for sales. Christine is married to Lee Grable, an attorney, and lives in Austin, Texas with Lee, her son William and beagle Annie.
With regard to the LIAA, Christine is particularly interested in enhancing the connectivity of alums across the Lauder family - via web, print, and other media. In addition, she is interested in strengthening the network among Lauder women, especially in light of the challenges of balancing an international (or "Lauder" career) with family needs.