Lara is Senior Associate Director in charge of on-campus events, programming, and curriculum for the Eugene Lang Entrepreneurship Center. Lara has experience as an angel investor, focusing on early stage social enterprise companies.

Prior to joining the Lang Center, she worked at several early stage companies in strategy and planning roles, and has over 20 years of experience in digital marketing. Most recently she founded and led the Insights & Planning practice for 360i – named the #1 digital agency in the country by AdAge for four years in a row – serving major brands for clients in CPG, travel and retail. There she led her team in bringing together consumer insights with emerging technologies to identify high impact opportunities for clients, spanning social media, mobile, search, paid media, and overall brand strategy. Lara holds a BA in Art History from Vassar College and an MBA from Columbia University..
 

Cecilia manages and develops the Center’s marketing and media communications. She creates the Center’s content, promotes its own and related programming and events, and builds community among the students, alumni, faculty, mentors, administrators, and other constituents.

She is a former entrepreneur with experience ranging from startup to corporate in tech, social media, and event marketing, healthcare PR, banking, and hospitality at companies such as what is now JP Morgan Chase, Grey Healthcare Group, Loews Corporation, and Sprinklr (a unicorn SaaS).

Cecilia received her BA in International Relations from Brown University and her MBA from Columbia Business School. She enjoys learning about different cultures and their methods of communication and considers herself an early adopter. Her idea of fun is practicing her various languages—currently focused on Portuguese and VC Speak, singing and listening to mostly old standards, and enjoying dishes from around the world. Cecilia lives in Manhattan with a slightly hostile cat.

Sam is a CBS grad, entrepreneur, and Sr. Associate Director of the Lang Center, in charge of alumni and corporate innovation initiatives. Sam has over 10 years of combined experience working in the startup and banking ecosystems and has created financial models for dozens of startup businesses, several of whom have gone on to raise successful rounds.

Sam can advise students and alumni on the NYC startup eco-system, building financial projects, as well as startup fundraising.

Cristina Cojoc is an accountant with more than seven years of experience in accounts payable, accounts receivables, journal entries, and tax preparation. She joined Columbia Business School two and a half years ago and works as an Accounts Payable Officer at Columbia University serving two centers: Jerome A. Chazen Institute and Eugene Lang Entrepreneurship Center.

Before joining CBS, Cristina worked most recently as accountant for First Manhattan Consulting Group in New York, and ACT (American College Testing) in Iowa City. Cristina has lived all across the US and she has also been a tax preparer in California.

Cristina completed her college degree in Economics in Romania and moved to the US with her husband in 2001. She continued her education by taking classes in statistics and psychology, and completed all the required accounting courses for the CPA exam. She has two children and in her spare time she enjoys yoga, baking, gardening, and going to the beach.

Diego is the Program Coordinator of the Eugene Lang Entrepreneurship Center, coordinating events, programming, and marketing. Prior to Columbia Business School, Diego worked in digital media/marketing with clients in CPG, travel, and nonprofit verticals in executing strategies to achieve their business goals. Diego holds a Bachelor of Business Administration in Marketing from Baruch College, Zicklin School of Business.