Board President, Dirk Lohan
Lohan Anderson
Chicago, IL
Mr. Lohan was instrumental in founding the SOS Children's Village in Lockport, Illinois in 1991. The Illinois village has been a home to 50-60 children throughout the nineties and is expanding to accommodate 100 children. Mr. Lohan has been president of the SOS Illinois organization two times and currently serves as President of SOS-USA, the national umbrella organization. In the past he has served for several years as a member of the International Senate of the SOS organization in Austria.
Dirk Lohan is an architect who was schooled at the Illinois Institute of Technology. He worked closely in this profession with his grandfather, Mies van der Rohe until his death in 1969. Mr. Lohan went on to found his own firm, Lohan Associates and now Lohan Anderson architects. During his career, Dirk Lohan has been responsible for many important buildings in the corporate, institutional, and hospitality sector. A few of the more notable buildings include additions to the Adler Planetarium and Shedd Aquarium in Chicago, IL, the McDonald’s Corporation Corporate Campus in Oak Brook, IL, the redevelopment of Soldier Field and North Burnham Park in Chicago, IL and the state-of-the-art Calamos Financial Headquarters in Naperville, IL.
Leslie Arouh
Newman Realty Group, Inc.
Boca Raton, FL
Leslie Arouh has developed his business career in the financial markets for more than 15 years. He was a Senior Vice President for Interstate Johnson Lane in Charlotte, NC where he managed the Institutional Fixed Income Department. From there he went on to become a Senior Vice President at First Union Capital Markets also in Charlotte, NC and in 1998 he joined Raymond James & Associates as the Senior Vice President of Institutional Bond Sales.
In 2004 he partnered with the Newman Realty Group, a real estate acquisition and development company based in Boca Raton, Florida. The Newman Realty Group and its subsidiaries have acquired or developed over three million square feet of commercial and residential properties throughout Broward, Palm Beach, Hillsborough, and St. Lucie Counties.
In 2007 he joined the Eurotrade1951 Group to become the Managing Director of Eurotrade Capital focusing on financing real estate as well as trading debt instruments and foreign exchange. Mr. Arouh has been actively involved in his community for many years. Currently, he is serving, once again, as a Board Member for SOS Children’s Villages of Florida and the SOS Children’s Villages USA board. Prior to his current involvement with SOS, Mr. Arouh served six years on their board as Vice President for Fund Development and two terms as President.
Through the Julia Arouh Memorial Foundation, the Arouh family has been instrumental in providing funding for Gilda’s Club of South Florida, St. Andrews School in Boca Raton, and numerous other charitable organizations.
Mr. Arouh resides in Boca Raton, Florida with his wife, Mindi and daughter, Juliette. His son, Jaime, lives and works in New York City.
Linda Cohen
Vice President and Chief of Research
Gartner Research
Ms. Cohen leads the worldwide focus and development of Gartner's sourcing research, providing life cycle advice to clients procuring or delivering strategic sourcing services. Linda co authored the book Multisourcing-Moving Beyond Outsourcing for Growth and Agility published November 2005 by Harvard Business School Press. Prior to joining Gartner, Ms. Cohen worked for a large IT services vendor in various management positions, ranging from program director of outsourcing operations to outsourcing marketing director in both government and commercial markets. Prior to that, she served 12 years in US federal government as a Program Director for disaster assistance emergency response operations.
Ms. Cohen resides in Washington, D.C. with her husband Jack. Their five children are scattered throughout the US.
Stephanie Denkowicz
Alston & Bird LLP
New York, NY
Stephanie Denkowicz joined the Board of SOS Children’s Villages – USA in 2004. She is a partner in the New York office of Alston & Bird LLP, a national US law firm founded in 1893 with an extensive national and international practice and over 750 attorneys in five major markets. Her practice is concentrated on mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, media and entertainment and general corporate and commercial matters. Stephanie represents a wide variety of European based clients in diverse industries including music and entertainment, book, journal and magazine publishing, automotive, hospitality, public relations and health care.
In addition to her work with SOS, Stephanie is a Trustee of The Opera Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization supporting young American opera singers, a member of the International Bar Association and of the Business Law and International Law and Practice Sections of the American Bar Association. Stephanie received her J.D. from Rutgers University School of Law – Newark in 1977, where she was an editor of the Rutgers Law Review. She received her B.A. from the University of Arizona in 1974 with majors in anthropology and government, where she was elected to Phi Beta Kappa.
Robert Baird, Jr.
Group President and CEO
Recreation/Leisure Sector
Dorel Industries, Inc.
Mr. Baird joined Dorel Industries in Spring 2008 as Group President and CEO. Prior to this appointment, Mr. Baird was Chairman of the International Retail Board from 2006 to 2008; and President and CEO, Philips Domestic Appliances and Personal Care from 2002 - 2006.
Mr. Baird was also a consultant in the New York office of Egon Zehnder International with practice specialties in the consumer products industry and marketing management.
Preceding his tenure as a consultant, Mr. Baird was the Vice President & General Manager at Samsonite, where he was responsible for their largest business and setting their global strategy. Prior to Samsonite, Mr. Baird worked in various consumer goods companies in positions of increasing responsibility, including General Motors, Scott Paper, Bristol Myers, and Procter & Gamble. His career began at General Electric in Finance and Mr. Baird is a graduate of their Financial Management Program.
Mr. Baird holds an MBA from the J.L. Kellogg School at Northwestern University, with concentrations in Marketing, Management, and Finance. He holds a B.A. in Economics from St. Lawrence University.
Renee Landegger
President, Martian Leasing
Director, Lynn Chase Designs
New York, NY
Renee Landegger is the owner and President of Martian Leasing, a real estate investment company, and a founding partner and Director of Lynn Chase Designs, a manufacturer of fine china and tableware products, inspired by nature. She is also a Director of the Lynn Chase Wildlife Foundation, dedicated to the preservation of animals in their natural habitat.
With her Tony and Emmy nominated partner, Susan Rose, Ms. Landegger formed Roseland Productions and co-produced three off Broadway shows. Their latest play “The Secret Letters of Jackie and Marilyn” recently completed a critically acclaimed run at the Public Theater, Pittsburgh and they are currently developing a movie and another play.
Ms. Landegger’s philanthropic interests focus on improving education and women’s issues. She recently resigned as First Vice President and Director from the Board of Lenox Hill Neighborhood House, a community center on the Upper East Side in Manhattan where she was actively involved for twenty years. She serves as a mentor and sponsor with Student/Sponsor Partners, an organization helping at-risk students graduate from high school. Ms. Landegger is a member of the Steering Committee of The New York Women’s Foundation, a cross-cultural alliance of women helping low-income girls and women in New York City to achieve sustained economic self-sufficiency and self-reliance. In addition, Ms. Landegger is actively involved with Abraham House, a residential alternative to prison. Ms. Landegger has been a long time and enthusiastic supporter of SOS Children’s Villages.
Ms. Landegger is married to Carl C. Landegger, a paper machinery manufacturing industrialist. They have 6 children and 14 grandchildren and live in New York City.
When not involved in business or volunteer projects, Renee is an avid runner and together with her husband they have run more than 50 marathons.
David Hoffman
Chicago, IL
David Hoffman has served on the Board of Directors of SOS Children’s Villages Illinois for 14 years. He has served on the Executive Committee as Treasurer and on various subcommittees including, Finance, Facilities and Build Chicago. He continues to assist with planned construction projects.
David is a retired Executive Vice President/Central Region Manager of Morse Diesel International, an international construction management and consulting firm. During his 29 year career, he was involved in many prominent projects, including the Sears Tower, Dean Witter Corporate Center, NBC Tower, Chicago Stadium and the expansion of Chicago’s McCormick Place Convention Center.
David is a graduate of Bradley University.
Douglas C. Richardson
Legislative Advisor, Winston & Strawn LLP.
Washington, D.C.
Doug Richardson joined Winston & Strawn as a legislative advisor in 1991. He has over two decades of experience in government relations involving the Congress, administration, and state government.
Before joining Winston & Strawn, Mr. Richardson served as director of the State of Illinois Washington Office (1988-1991) under Governor James R. Thompson and Governor Jim Edgar. In this capacity, he worked closely with the administration and the Illinois congressional delegation on state government issues. He previously served as associate director of the State of Illinois Office with responsibility over transportation, agriculture, and communications issues (1985-1988). In the second half of 1988, Mr. Richardson worked for the 1988 Bush- Quayle campaign as director of Voter Programs in Illinois. In early 1991, he served on the Presidential Transition Team for the U.S. Department of Transportation for Secretary Skinner. Before joining the State of Illinois Office, Mr. Richardson was associate director of the Highway Division of the Associated General Contractors (1983-1985), where he represented the concerns of highway contractors before the Congress and administration. Mr. Richardson also served as a legislative assistant to Congresswoman Lynn Martin (1981-1983), and as staff assistant to Congressman Tom Tauke (1979).
Mr. Richardson received an M.S. in 1981 from the University of Illinois in agriculture economics, with a concentration in government and food policy. He received a B.S. in 1979 from Illinois State University with degrees in political science, agri-business, and economics.
Peter Völker
Deputy Secretary General,
SOS-Kinderdorf International Innsbruck, Austria
Peter Völker has served as the SOS-Kinderdorf International Deputy Secretary General since February 2001. In this position he is responsible for the coordination of all fundraising activities for the worldwide organization. Previously, he was the Regional Director for Western European countries, where he was based in Austria and responsible for the coordination of SOS Children's Villages Associations in 17 European countries. Before joining SOS in early 1999 he had a background in industry, consulting and international networking on behalf of the Austrian Foreign Trade Organisation.
In his position as Deputy Secretary General he continues being responsible for the coordination of the SOS associations in Western Europe and Northern America (19 countries). Peter has a business management degree from Innsbruck University. In addition, he has passed the management consultant exam. In 1990 he was awarded a doctorate in Social and Business Science. He is married and has three daughters.
John Allen
i-Nano LLC
John Allen is President of i-Nano LLC. I-Nano creates, develops and invests in research stage projects in nanotechnology emanating from leading research institutes throughout the World. For eighteen years prior to this, he was Executive Vice President of Finance and Operations of Dentinvestments, a firm which acquired and managed middle market companies in North America. He also was Vice President, Investment Banking at Bankers Trust; Regional Director, Investment Banking at Bank of America.; special assistant to the Treasurer and Controller of Shell Brasil, S.A.; and Latin American specialist at the Center for Naval Analyses in Washington, D.C.
John speaks four languages and received an MBA from Harvard Business School and a BA in Economics and Latin American Studies from Princeton University. He studied at Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies and the Fundação Getulio Vargas in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. He also serves as a Board Member of The John A Hartford Foundation (www.jhartfound.org) and the Greenwich Science Center (www.greenwichsciencecenter.org).
Halvor Stenstadvold
Chairman of the Board, Oslo Stock Exchange
Halvor Stenstadvold has had a distinguished career that spans the private and public sector. Currently, Mr. Stenstadvold is Chairman of the Board of the Oslo Stock Exchange and is a consultant and business advisor. For over two decades Mr. Stenstadvold held senior executive positions with the Orkla Group, the leading supplier of branded consumer good to the Nordic grocery market. Previous to this time he was Senior Vice President of the Christiania Bank, Oslo and Mayor of Baerum Municipality. He now serves on a number of Corporate Boards, including Storebrand ASA , Statkraft SF and Statskraft AS. He is also Board Chairman of Borregaard Forest Companies. Since 2001 he has been a Board Director of SOS Children’s Villages, Norway, one of the largest SOS offices of Europe. He holds a Masters in Political Science from the University of Oslo and is a Rotary Scholar, Columbia University in New York.