Who Are We?

Andrea Lauer Rice, Founder and CEO

The creation of Lauer Learning is a natural progression of Andrea Lauer Rice's professional work and personal interests.

Prior to launching Lauer Learning, Lauer worked in market intelligence and market management at IBM. During that time, she worked in Learning Services for several years and authored a white paper entitled, "The Evolution of e-learning to Include Gaming and Simulations" which enabled her to observe the educational gaming market over the course of several years. She also collaborated with colleagues to define "the ideal interactive e-business experience of the future" for the next generation which allowed her to research in-depth as the digital habits of Generation Y emerged.


While working in the e-learning industry, she came to the conclusion that e-learning in its current state, had not even come close to delivering on its promise or its potential to revolutionize the way we teach and learn. She contrasted this conclusion with the countless evenings she spends with her husband playing Final Fantasy X, among many other games. This prompted her to ask the question: why can't learning be as engaging, fun and even addictive as playing games? And...if we don't succeed in finding the right formula, how will we reach and teach this generation?

For six years prior to attending the Goizueta Business School at Emory University, Lauer lived in Budapest, Hungary, and worked in the surrounding region of Central and Eastern Europe. As a journalist, teacher and director of the New York Times Center for Independent Journalism, Lauer saw firsthand the impact and benefits of marrying new technology with traditional approaches to journalism, business and life in general. This experience is clearly the foundation for her interest in using technology and more specifically gaming to entertain and educate, or in other words to close the "engagement gap" with the coming generations.

In addition to gaming, Lauer is also working to discover the right way to raise her young son bilingually by once again, introducing language, culture and history in an entertaining and educational way. To help accomplish this goal, Lauer created an Educational Advisory Board, comprised of a number of experienced educators — ranging from 5 to 35 years of teaching experience — from a variety of different backgrounds. A brief bio on each of them is available.

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