MUDEC Alumni

Robert Peiffer is a risk management and project management professional with more than 30 years of experience in the financial services and consulting industries. His background includes senior roles in internal audit, financial reporting, regulatory compliance, corporate governance, operational risk management, and banking operations. He has extensive global experience, having lived and worked in Washington DC, New York, London, Budapest, Hong Kong, and Tokyo, in both regional and global roles. He has traveled extensively for business and pleasure. He’s currently a senior vice president, program management executive at Bank of America and lives in New Jersey.

Robert earned a bachelor’s degree in business from Miami University and in 1987 attended the first summer program in Luxembourg for the Farmer School of Business. He went on to receive a master’s degree in business administration from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. Robert also serves as a board director and audit committee chair for the African Center for Economic Transformation (ACET). ACET is an economic policy institute supporting Africa’s long-term growth through transformation.

Lee Ernst graduated from Miami University in 2003 with a bachelor’s degree in speech communications. She also holds a master’s degree from DePaul University in public service management. Lee studied at MUDEC during the fall of 2001 and has deep gratitude for her experience and the program. She has fond memories of her host family and the beautiful country of Luxembourg.

Lee is a consultant at Johnson, Grossnickle, and Associates (JGA), a philanthropic consulting firm located just south of Indianapolis. Prior to her tenure at JGA, Lee worked in advancement for the Women’s Philanthropy Institute at the Lilly Family School of Philanthropy and the University of Chicago.

She is an active volunteer in the field of philanthropy as a mentor and committee member with the Association of Fundraising Professionals and member of The Oaks Academy Task Force. She has also served as an annual fellow with the Development Leadership Consortium.

Lee lives in Indianapolis with her husband and two children.

Katina Janas Tullis grew up on the west side of Cleveland and experienced her first taste of European living as an AFS exchange student to France while in high school. She graduated from Miami in 1991 with a bachelor’s degree in business administration with concentrations in economics and international business. She made Luxembourg her home the first semester of her senior year and thoroughly enjoyed her studies at MUDEC, local life, and European travels, including a trip to Germany on Reunification Day.

After graduating, Katina worked as a compensation consultant for Towers Perrin for four years before continuing to the University of South Carolina where she earned an International MBA, gaining valuable experience through a six-month internship at Merck in Paris, France. She worked in consumer products brand management and marketing for 15 years including positions at Campbell Soup Company in New Jersey and Quaker Oats/Pepsico in Chicago. Her passion for international marketing and culture led her to Storck, a German candy company with U.S. headquarters in Chicago, where she eventually became responsible for all of U.S. marketing, working closely with colleagues in Germany.

Katina and her husband, Brian, have twin boys. Katina was president of the Double Take Mothers of Twins club for three years and has been an active volunteer with her children’s school PTAs. She and her family now live in Carmel, Indiana.

Christopher Ballard is a startup investor, operator, and advisor. He was an early team member at Uber where he held multiple positions, from launching new markets globally to managing operations for the southwestern United States and Hawaii. Prior to Uber, Christopher worked in renewable energies and healthcare real estate.

Inspired by his time studying abroad at MUDEC, he established a scholarship for business majors to study in Luxembourg, for which he was named Miami University's "Young Philanthropist of the Year."

Christopher and his wife reside in Austin, Texas.

Jennifer Bennet is an enterprise sales executive at Amazon Web Services, and has spent the last 25 years in enterprise technology sales. Jennifer lives in Cleveland with her husband and two teenage sons. She enjoys watching her boys’ football, basketball, and travel baseball games. When not watching her sons play sports, Jennifer loves to bike, golf, travel, cook, and entertain friends and family. Jennifer attended MUDEC in spring 1996 and worked in Brussels, Belgium as a summer marketing intern for a U.S. chemical company.

Marienne Bolton, originally from Dayton, Ohio, received her first passport at 16 and lived with a family in her hometown’s sister city of Augsburg, Germany, during summer break. With her eye to getting back to Europe, she selected Miami University and achieved a goal of studying at the Miami University European Center in the fall of 1985 during her junior year. Marienne earned a bachelor’s degree in mass communications, and minor degree in film studies. While Marienne studied German all through high school and at Miami’s Oxford campus, she took her one and only semester of French at the Avenue Monterey MUDEC center. During class trips in the fall of 1985, she and her MUDEC classmates experienced the wrapping of the Pont Neuf Bridge in Paris by famed artist Christo and a nuclear disarmament rally with over 100,000 marchers in the streets of London.

After living and working in London and Chicago, Marienne returned to Ohio and settled in Lebanon. While Marienne began her career in multimedia production, she quickly evolved into working in computer and software technology. Her roles have included working for global organizations managing and leading large technology implementations for both the private and public sector organizations including many state and federal government organizations.

With a commitment to continuous learning, Marienne is always traveling and seeking to experience many cultures and customs the world over. From Mumbai to Edinburg, from Portland to Boston, she has found her way back to Luxembourg for the 40th and 50th Anniversary MUDEC celebrations. During her next visit to Luxembourg, she is hoping to research her Luxembourg ancestry. Marienne’s love of music, film, art, and yoga keeps her moving when she’s not out on her next road trip or world adventure.

Maggie Clemons graduated from Miami University in 2003 with a bachelor's degree in mass communication and journalism and also holds a master's degree in library and information science from Dominican University in River Forest, Illinois. She studied at MUDEC during fall semester 2001.

Maggie is a dedicated public librarian with experience in a variety of leadership positions. She currently serves as the deputy commissioner of Chicago Public Library's Department of Library Operations and Patron Experience where she oversees staffing, operations, and public service delivery across 76 library branches, three regional hubs, and a 750,000-square-foot central facility, as well as strategic planning for new libraries and renovations of existing facilities. In her role, she has led an unprecedented implementation of an additional day of service at all libraries, expanding library access across Chicago.

Maggie is a 2022 fellow of the Civic Leadership Academy at the University of Chicago.

Kathy Woeber Gardner spent her junior year at MUDEC and graduated from Miami in 1984. She has co-organized many of her MUDEC class reunions and attended the MUDEC 45th and 50th Anniversary Reunions in Luxembourg.

Kathy is a native of Pittsburgh and grew up in Cincinnati. She is a graduate of the University of Cincinnati College of Law, where her favorite class was international business transactions. She worked as a lawyer in Brussels, Belgium (because it was close to Luxembourg), was an associate at Mayer Brown in Chicago, a partner at Orrick in San Francisco and, in 2009, founded Montgomery Pacific, a boutique international corporate law firm based in San Francisco, which is thriving.

Kathy met her husband, John Gardner, at MUDEC and they have two teenagers who share their parents' love of travel.

Heide Garrigan is the founder/president of Pivotal Consulting where she is an executive coach and an expert in leadership development with a mission to enable people and teams to maximize their potential. Prior to Pivotal Consulting, she spent 20 years as an executive at Accenture, working with numerous global clients and colleagues.

Heide is married and the mother of three sons and spends her free time running, CrossFit training, and enjoying the nature of Colorado. Heide loves traveling, experiencing new cultures, and connecting with friends all around the world.

Heide is a 1993 graduate and a MUDEC ‘91-92 alum.

Carlo Krieger grew up on a farm outside of Mertert, Luxembourg, a small village on the banks of the Moselle River.

He began his studies at the University of Vienna, went on to Miami to receive a bachelor’s degree in social anthropology in 1981 and continued his studies at the University of Chicago as a Fulbright grantee, before receiving his doctorate in Vienna, Austria. He has been close to MUDEC ever since, even teaching one semester next to his job as a civil servant.

During the last decades he has been posted to several countries representing Luxembourg and currently serves in Brazil. In all his posts he hosted MU study tours, student groups and professors, including the Glee club. He also participated in the Winter College in Pasadena. He also tries to remain active in academic research and conferences.

Isaac Reynolds graduated from Miami University with a bachelor’s degree in diplomacy and foreign affairs in 2009. As a sophomore, Isaac spent the 2006-2007 academic year at MUDEC, where he interned with the U.S. Embassy in Luxembourg’s Foreign Commercial Service, instructed a beginner’s French class, studied opera at the Esch-sur-Alzette Conservatory of Music, and received the Ruth and Lee Dutton Annual Scholarship.

After an extended period abroad in the Sultanate of Oman, he engaged closely with the country’s education and human capital consulting industries. Isaac returned to the U.S. to complete his MBA from The Ohio State University. Isaac is now an associate under U.S. Wealth Management with JPMorgan Chase and Co.

Beth Pfohl spent the fall semester of her senior year in Luxembourg where she had the opportunity to lead the Student Faculty Council during the MUDEC 50th Anniversary celebrations. She additionally had the honor of receiving the 2019 President's Distinguished Service Award for her work while in Luxembourg. Following her time abroad, she returned to Oxford where she graduated summa cum laude with degrees in strategic communication and theatre.

In her free time, Beth enjoys cooking, working to improve her Luxembourgish, traveling, and performing in musicals. She credits her time spent at MUDEC for greatly expanding her global perspective and for setting her off on a new career path that she hopes will take her to all corners of the world.

Mike Ryan attended MUDEC from fall 1985 through spring 1986. He graduated from Miami University in 1987 with a bachelor’s degree in business administration and received his MBA from Michigan State University in 2001. Mike has been an enthusiastic supporter of the MUDEC program both as a student and alumnus. In addition, he is actively involved in Citizens Climate Lobby, a grass roots organization working to develop bipartisan policy solutions to climate change. Mike lives in Chicago and works in marketing and sales in the telecommunications industry.

Eric Steva, originally from Columbus Ohio, studied at the Miami University European Center in the spring of 1988 during his junior year. He graduated in 1989 with a bachelor’s degree in environmental design from the School of Architecture. While at MUDEC, he studied geography under Dr. Howell Lloyd, tried to learn the German language, and took Dr. Emile Haag’s history class, which has instilled a life-long interest in the European theater of World War II.

He has been a registered architect since 1996 and has specialized in educational design, specifically public education buildings in Ohio and Kentucky since 2000. In 2011, he was the architect for the London Middle School, the first LEED Platinum school in Ohio. He is active with his professional organization, the American Institute of Architects.

He and his wife, Elizabeth, a MUDEC merger, have lived in Lexington, Kentucky since 2013. Their time together in Luxembourg has instilled in them a passion to travel and explore new counties and cultures on a regular basis. Both have returned to Luxembourg numerous times, Eric for pleasure and Elizabeth as a musician at the Echternach Music Festival.

Carli Williams is a global and online learning designer and strategist. She currently works with Generation, a global non-profit organization that provides training for adults to move into life-changing careers that would otherwise be inaccessible. Previously, she has lived and worked in Luxembourg and Italy with study abroad organizations including MUDEC, CIEE (Rome), and the University of Notre Dame Rome Global Gateway. Carli has a bachelor’s degree in marketing from Miami University and a master’s degree in international higher education from Loyola University of Chicago.

Carli has a strong connection to MUDEC, both as a student (2013) and professionally as the student activities coordinator (2015-2016) and coordinator of communications and student engagement (2017-2019). As a student, she conducted a two-year research project on MUDEC students’ experiences of culture shock and reverse culture shock, served on the Student Faculty Council, and received the Ruth and Lee Dutton Scholarship. In her professional role she kicked off the first summer internship program, connecting MUDEC students with professional experiences. One of her favorite parts of Luxembourg is exploring the beautiful Mullerthal region in the north, something she enjoyed sharing with students on Discovery Tours.

She and her husband moved back to the U.S. and they enjoy exploring their new home through hikes, festivals, and short trips and travel as often as they can.

Sydney Sharp is a dedicated student studying political science and history, with an expected graduation date of May 2024. Her academic journey has been shaped and enriched by her transformative experience at MUDEC.

While attending MUDEC, Sydney completed an internship at the Patton Museum in Ettelbruck, Luxembourg, where she demonstrated her commitment to bridging the gap between history and the community. By designing interactive activities, she effectively educated international students and teachers about the significant role Americans played in World War II. Collaborating with the Spangdahlem Air Base further enhanced her research skills and contributed to the development of educational programs for military personnel.

Sydney's commitment to lifelong learning, community engagement, and her passion for exploring different cultures position her for success in the field of political science and history. Her experiences at MUDEC have not only shaped her academic pursuits, but have also fostered a genuine curiosity and appreciation for the world's diverse cultures and perspectives.