CHARLES WIDGER '73 LEADERSHIP SCHOLARSHIP

Marina Campo is an alumna of Ursinus College, where she earned a BA with double majors in international relations and business/economics. At Ursinus, she was secretary of UCEA Environmental Action Club, a volunteer for St. Christopher’s Children Hospital and studied abroad in Firenze, Italy. Campo also earned a Master of Business Administration from Rowan University in New Jersey. After earning her bachelor’s degree, Campo worked at TD Bank in a variety of roles in retail banking as a customer service representative, an executive assistant with loan operations and as a project specialist with the Credit Card Operations/Governance Team. Campo has also worked for Turnberry Solutions/AmeriHealth Administrators in Philadelphia as a business analyst/project consultant for client implementation, where she conducted analysis and data mining for business migration and client implementations, facilitated account setup, served as a SME and assisted in training for new team members. Before starting law school, Campo was employed by Santander Consumer in Dallas as an associate vendor manager for partner relations. In this role she was responsible for performing risk assessments, assisting with contract execution and conducting SLA and performance monitoring for Santander vendors.

Michael Lambert comes to the Villanova Law from Washington, DC, where he worked across a variety of political, public policy, and non-profit areas. Most recently, Lambert worked for Americans for Prosperity as a federal and state policy analyst. In that role, he developed several policy issue initiatives, including public infrastructure financing, export-import bank reform and agriculture spending. He also represented AFP before members of Congress and staff, executive branch agencies and policy coalitions. Prior to that, Lambert served as a legislative aide for the office of Congressman Ed Whitfield in the United States House of Representatives and interned in the offices of Senator Mitch McConnell and Congressman Steve Scalise. Additionally, he has assisted a number of House and Senate election campaigns. Originally from Louisville, KY, Lambert received his Bachelor of Music Performance from the University of Louisville and his Master of Professional Studies in political management from The George Washington University.

Samantha Thompson received her Bachelor of Science Degree in marketing: public relations & advertising from Stephens College and received her Master of Business Administration from the University of Missouri- Kansas City. She is currently the manager of business operations & chief of staff to the vice-president at Lumen Technologies where she has worked since August 2022. In this role, Thompson has an operational and strategic position supporting the customer success marketing team including chief of staff responsibilities for VP, customer success marketing & data intelligence and cross-functional work to support a range of initiatives across the organization. She has also worked at Lumen Technologies as the lead marketing manager, where she was responsible for leading small business strategy & go-to-market planning for new and complex products across all of Lumen’s brands. This included the execution of various trials, in collaboration with agency partners. Thompson has also had stints with Global Prairie as a senior associate for insight and strategy as well as project manager, fellow and growth strategy at Barkley in Kansas City, MO. Thompson's current volunteer activity includes participating as a CASA volunteer of Cook County and deputy registrar with Chicago Votes.

Regan Anderson is a 2023 alumna from the University of Minnesota Curtis L. Carlson School of Management graduating with a bachelor of science in business in supply chain operations management, a bachelor of arts in Spanish language and a minor in business law. Since September of 2023, Anderson has worked as a legal assistant at Taft, Stettinius & Hollister LLP, where she is responsible for drafting and proofreading legal documents, including agreements, board minutes, contracts, and correspondence, ensuring accuracy and adherence to firm and legal standards. Coordinating communication between legal teams, clients and external parties, managing calendars, scheduling meetings and handling confidential information with discretion and assisting in billing and timekeeping activities by monitoring and tracking billable hours and expenses, ensuring accurate invoicing for multiple clients and client matters. Prior to her employment at Taft, Stettinius & Hollister LLP, Anderson worked as a law clerk at Tomsche, Sonneyson & Tomsche, P.A. and was a legal intern in Toledo, Spain at Las Cortes de Castilla-La Mancha. While at the University of Minnesota, she was a member of Alpha Kappa Psi Alpha Eta Chapter where she served as the vice president of pledge education, assistant pledge educator and pledge class historian and recipient of the AKPsi Enterprise Scholarship 2020-2023 for outstanding academic achievement and involvement. 

Lauren Lauletta is a 2024 alumna of the The Pennsylvania State University Smeal College of Business with a bachelor of science in corporate innovation and entrepreneurship and a minor in international business. Lauletta has worked as a marketing intern at Incutate Workplace in Philadelphia, PA where she implemented social media efforts including marketing, member highlights, website updates, and SEO software along with sharing available property listings, negotiating with potential tenants, and provides communication to 150 current tenants. In the Smeal College of Business under the Smeal Management and Organization Department, Lauletta served as an administrative teaching assistant. She led a teaching team of 10 other assistants who are responsible for overseeing over 1,000 students and coordinates with three professors to determine best methods for enhancing student learning experience while organizing weekly teaching plans and performed quality assurance audits to ensure consistency of grading by assistants. Lauletta was a member of the Gamma Phi Beta Sorority where she served as a member of the Alternative Fundraising Committee participating in THON, a 46-hour Dance Marathon and year-long fundraising campaign to benefit pediatric cancer and arranged fundraising opportunities in State College, including dinners, bake sales, raffles and more, raising a yearly average of $200,00 to benefit THON.

Robert Rodriguez is an alumnus of Southern New Hampshire University, where he graduated cum laude with a bachelor of science in business administration and a concentration in entrepreneurship. Since October of 2023, Rodriguez has worked as a program manager and small business advisor at Lehman College. There, he relaunched the business incubator program to better serve small businesses, implemented a revenue generating business model and engineered a membership tier system overseeing all aspects of admissions criteria, including screening, onboarding and servicing. Rodriguez has also worked as an account manager for the Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce, where he was the primary consultant for marketing, startup, financing assistance, growth and strategy. He has volunteered as a community assistant for the Office of State Senator Nathalia Fernandez, where he assisted the deputy chief of staff with event coordination and consults the district office regarding business programs and grants available to constituents. Additionally, Rodriguez was a logistics embarkation specialist for the United States Marine Corps Reserves, where he secured cargo for land, sea and air transport while utilizing automated information systems and provided briefing to officers and senior enlisted personnel on cargo loads.  

Evan Abouaf received his Bachelor of Science from Northeastern University, where he was a dual major in economics and business administration. Before attending Villanova Law, he built a career in marketing and process operations at Informa TechTarget, where he most recently served as an associate director of process operations. In this role, he oversaw the day-to-day operational workflows supporting over $200 million in annual revenue. He also played a key role in integrating the processes and teams of newly acquired companies, working with cross-functional stakeholders to optimize workflows across all teams. Prior to this role, Abouaf held progressively senior roles at TechTarget where he focused on improving process efficiency through data-driven decision making and process redesign.

Outside of work and school, Abouaf is also active in community fundraising efforts, having run multiple marathons to raise over $60,000 for the American Liver Foundation.

Olivia Gang is an alumna of Villanova University School of Business, where she earned a BA with double majors in business analytics and digital marketing. During the summer of her junior year, Olivia worked at Blackstone as a digital marketing summer analyst, where she wrote and edited copy for Blackstone’s website and social media accounts and collaborated closely with the legal team to ensure compliance with applicable regulations prior to publication. She also tracked and evaluated Blackstone’s digital marketing and website performance and regularly communicated high-level insights gleaned from this analysis to Blackstone’s chief operating officer.

During her senior year, Gang worked part-time as a consultant on Blackstone’s Go-to-Market, Sales and Networks Team. In this role, she built and managed Blackstone’s Chief Revenue Officer Community, including 270+ CROs, CCOs, and CMOs across Blackstone’s portfolio companies. She coordinated the annual CRO Community Conference and quarterly webinars to facilitate networking and collaboration among members. She also researched emerging technologies and go-to-market trends to produce monthly newsletters designed to educate members on key industry and technological developments.

Following graduation, Gang joined The Trade Desk as a trading analyst on the Client Services Team. There, she supported the rollout of The Trade Desk’s redesigned user interface and updated bidding algorithm by leading tailored client education sessions that highlighted the platform’s key differentiators. She explained the functionality of the platform’s algorithms and AI capabilities, advised clients on compliant data utilization strategies and delivered data-driven recommendations to help clients optimize spend and exceed key performance indicators through the strategic use of AI-driven tools.

Minsoo Jeon is an alumnus of Drexel University, where he earned a Bachelor of Science in interdisciplinary studies with a triple minor in philosophy, business administration and real estate development and management. Jeon comes to Villanova Law with extensive entrepreneurial experience. Prior to law school, he founded Plot Holders LLC, a real estate investment firm, through which he has raised and managed over $1.5 million to close more than forty transactions across several jurisdictions. Through this venture, Jeon has negotiated over 100 purchase and partnership agreements and led cross-functional teams through the land development process. He has also built and managed a five-member full-time operations team. His professional interests lie at the intersection of law, real estate development and entrepreneurship.

Chloe Povedano is an alumna of The University of Texas at Austin, where she graduated in 2024 with a Bachelor of Science and Arts in chemistry, a minor in business and public policy and a certificate in design strategies. In the Inventors Program at the University of Texas, Povedano led a healthcare innovation project where her team researched, designed and secured funding for an algorithm to match telehealth providers with clients' specific needs in reproductive healthcare. Her interdisciplinary research spanned medicine, biotechnology and the law, and utilized methods such as long-form interviews with key stakeholders, scholars and members of the community to identify and design for systemic gaps in reproductive healthcare.

As an undergraduate, Povedano was a teaching assistant for Business Law and Ethics in the McCombs School of Business, where she managed a course of over 450 students, aiding students in understanding business law material and overseeing ethical analysis grading. She also served as a student entrepreneurship mentor for the VentureLab Spark Program, guiding student founders through market research, business plans, and product development.

Prior to law school, Povedano worked as a legal assistant at Cazayoux Ewing Law Firm in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, coordinating legal materials for white-collar criminal defense and personal injury matters. She assisted the attorneys during a complex jury trial, aided in client management, and designed visual demonstratives used in negotiations that resulted in a multi-million dollar settlement.