The Honorable Lauri J. Fitz-Pegado

Partner, The Livingston Group

The Honorable Lauri J. Fitz-Pegado’s Story

 

Lauri Fitz Pegado is an international executive with a breadth of experience resolving crises, managing issues, resources and people. She navigates countries and challenges, maintaining focus on successes and delivering return on investment.

A partner at the Livingston Group, she leads the international, education and non-profit practices providing strategic counsel to domestic and international clients –foreign governments, US and foreign corporations, non-profits, educational institutions and industry associations.

She volunteers her time to provide advisory and mentoring services to several educational organizations including the University of Denver’s International Career Advancement Program at the Aspen Institute, the Ron Brown Scholars Program, the International Women’s Forum and Ernst and Young’s Women Athletes Business Network. Currently the only female partner at The Livingston Group, Lauri Fitz-Pegado is a champion for development and the career advancement of women. She is a director on the DC board of the International Women’s Forum; she has served as a Corporate Ambassador for Vital Voices and is a member of the Women’s Foreign Policy Group. She is Vice Chair of the board for the non-profit Global Communities, is on the board of the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, served for ten years on the Board of the National Education Association and was Board Chair, is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the Washington Government Relations Group. 

She has represented over 20 countries and many corporations to support issues including normalizing diplomatic relations, lifting trade sanctions and facilitating investment.  She designs and implements strategies to increase market share, secure funding, promote development, open new markets, enhance brand recognition, create an enabling regulatory/legislative/policy environment and improve networks and visibility. Fitz-Pegado has facilitated foreign direct investment in the US from the gas, renewable energy and mining sectors valued at over $20 Billion.   

Fitz-Pegado previously served as an Assistant Secretary of Commerce during President Clinton’s administration. She managed 130 offices overseas and 90 in the United States facilitating services to help small and medium sized companies export and advocating for major US companies competing for foreign contracts. Working with Secretaries Ron Brown, Mickey Kantor and William Daley, she established Commercial Centers in international Big Emerging Markets, in Russia and the Newly Independent States (NIS); integrated the overseas and domestic field operations to improve service to the business community and supported and led countless trade missions all over the world.

Experienced in executive level management positions, Lauri Fitz-Pegado led the Global Gateway Management and Corporate Affairs and Communications departments for Iridium, LLC.  A Motorola creation and pioneer of its time, the global satellite and paging company benefited from her trade and negotiating ability to develop and maintain key relationships with domestic and foreign entities essential to regulatory approvals and operations. Fitz-Pegado managed relationships with investor companies, facilitated regulatory approval requirements, secured permits and licenses and later managed investor and media relations.  

She was a managing director at Hill and Knowlton Public Affairs and an executive at Gray and Company for over a decade.  For several years, Fitz-Pegado served as a Foreign Service Information Office.  As a United States diplomat in the Dominican Republic and Mexico, she managed cultural events, education exchanges, and media relations. Fitz-Pegado performed with the Dominican Ballet Company and taught dance in Mexico City.

Fitz-Pegado graduated cum laude with Phi Beta Kappa honors from Vassar College before earning her Master of Arts in International Affairs from the School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University.  She speaks Spanish and Portuguese.

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