photo courtesy of Lisa Rosenthal

A leader and mentor to students, alumna Lisa Rosenthal SPA/BA ’97, Kogod/MBA ’01, always finds time to give back to American University. Currently an Alumni Board member, Lisa believes you must “pay it forward” and makes it a point to help AU students.
 
From the moment Lisa first visited AU, she fell in love with the intimate feel of the campus. She credits AU as being one of the many reasons she is successful today. “I had so many opportunities and doors opened for me because of the people I met at AU. For example, one of my college professors hired me for my first ‘adult’ job,” she says. “He transformed my life in the most amazing ways. AU was an integral part of making me who I am, and I think it is necessary to give back.”
 
At age 32, Lisa started her own company called The Mayvin Consulting Group, in the Washington metro area. Lisa described it as the “scariest and most exciting moments” of her life. The Mayvin Consulting Group provides program management support services to various DoD and DHS clients with much of the work focusing on supporting the warfighters, whether it be acquisition and contracting or direct training efforts.

As CEO of The Mayvin Consulting Group, Lisa describes the best part of her job as doing exactly what she loves and doing it with the people with whom she wants to work. Although she asserts that no one can truly be prepared for the various challenges of running their own business, Lisa believes her MBA degree from AU was instrumental in her ability to do just that.
 
Lisa remains connected to the university by staying in touch with fellow classmates, including one who works with her at Mayvin, as well as constantly looking for AU students to intern with her company. She considers AU students to be some of the most dedicated and tenacious in the area and sees American University as an excellent platform for all students seeking government work. She advises students and recent graduates to constantly challenge themselves and not to be afraid of rejection. “Be prepared to fail and be rejected. It will happen and that is OK,” she says. “If you don’t try though, you won’t ever succeed. It sounds cliché, but it is so true.”

Lisa will meet with students at AU this spring as she takes part in the Alumni Association’s distinguished speaker series, Alumni in the KNOW: Women in Leadership, on February 25, 2014.