Leadership

Andrea Lauer Rice has served as President of the Hungarian American Coalition, the community’s largest umbrella organization, for the past eight years. From 2019-2023, she was the U.S. Regional Diaspora President representing the American Hungarian community to Hungary. She is co-founder of Memory Project, an award-winning collection of 150 video-based life histories of Hungarians who immigrated to the US, especially following the Hungarian Revolution of 1956.

She is the proud daughter and granddaughter of ‘56-ers and has created numerous multimedia projects to teach the next generation about the 1956 Revolution and the evils of communism, including: leading the charge to create a 14-foot “Freedom Fighter” statue in the heart of Atlanta, GA. She has authored books, educational booklets, and a computer game for kids teaching on the subject in addition to documentary films, multimedia exhibits and commemorations.  

In 1991, Andrea moved to Budapest, Hungary to experience firsthand the democratic transition behind the Iron Curtain. She reported on the first visit of Pope John Paul II and witnessed the first free commemoration of the 1956. She worked in the Prime Minister’s Office of Hungarians Living Abroad and helped establish the Center for Independent Journalism, New York Times Company Foundation. 

In 2021, she was awarded with the Officer’s Cross of the Order of Merit of Hungary (Magyar Köztársasági Érdemrend tisztikeresztje) by the Hon. Zsolt Németh on behalf of János Áder, President of Hungary. 

Andrea holds an MBA from the Goizueta Business School at Emory University and a BA in Journalism from Lehigh University. She lives with her husband and children in Georgia.