Lauri Fitz-Pegado

She is a native Washingtonian who has worked and lived throughout the world. She has been a civil servant at the Voice of America and a Foreign Service Officer in cultural affairs in the Dominican Republic and Mexico as well as Assistant Secretary and Director General of the U.S. and Foreign Commercial Service at the Department of Commerce. In the private sector she advised countries, corporations, individuals, and non-profits on trade as a senior executive at Hill and Knowlton and Gray and Company, and as a partner at The Livingston Group.

With a history of ballet training and performing with the Capitol Ballet, Vassar Dance Theatre, and Ballet Santo Domingo, she now has returned to her passions by teaching ballet and mentoring.

Lauri received her M.A from the Johns Hopkins University School for Advanced International Studies and a B.A. from Vassar College, speaks Spanish and Portuguese. She is grateful for her children and grandchildren in Scotland, Angola, and Mozambique.