Rutgers Grad Scores World Cup Leadership Role
Lauren Nathan-LaRusso reflects on her years in student government at Douglass College and how they prepared her for her current role as co-host city manager and general counsel for the NYNJ World Cup Host Committee.
As Lauren Nathan-LaRusso strategized with former Gov. Phil Murphy’s administration on the best way to present the New York New Jersey partnership as a host for the World Cup and its final match, she reflected on the skills she learned at Rutgers.
LaRusso, the current co-host city manager and general counsel to the New York New Jersey 2026 World Cup Host Committee, earned a 2003 degree in history from Douglass College, now known as Douglass Residential College, and a 2004 master’s degree from the Graduate School of Education in New Brunswick.
When strategizing on the World Cup bid, she says she considered the best way “to present our finest foot forward about why we were the most qualified and also why we are the ideal community to host a final.”
LaRusso, who grew up in Middletown in Monmouth County, says she focused on the area’s diversity, the welcoming nature of FIFA’s values, and how they align with the region's. “When I found myself in this position, I did think back to all of the experiences I had leading up to this moment and, I did, at the time, think back to Rutgers and being at Douglass and honing in on all of those coalition-building skills,” she says. “At Rutgers, it is so big, so you really must know who all your stakeholders are, as you have competing interests all over, and you have to manage it.”
Looking back at her years at Rutgers as a student leader, LaRusso recalls them with great pride and fondness. “You have to be highly skilled to succeed there,” she says as she wipes a tear from her eye. “There are so many people, and it’s so competitive.”
LaRusso was a Henry J. Raimondo Fellow at Eagleton Institute of Politics, which enabled her to study the New Jersey State Legislature and intern with the New Jersey Office of Legislative Services.
Student Government
The fellowship, which she says she is grateful for, helped her get a master’s degree in education while also exploring her interest in government. “When I was a student at Rutgers, I was involved from the beginning with student government at Douglass College, and I slowly worked my way up the ranks and served as president.”
At that time, each individual college had its own student government association, which has since been consolidated into a single central government at Rutgers–New Brunswick: the Rutgers University Student Assembly.
Born on Staten Island, LaRusso worked “to not only develop policy, but to deliver it,” she says. “I learned very quickly at Rutgers how to effectively organize and to keep your eye on the prize and land the plane.”
A graduate of Middletown High School South, LaRusso says she recalls working on civic engagement with the RU Voting Rutgers campaign with the Rutgers President’s Office to try to get more students to vote for legislators who supported funding Rutgers. “In order to get the legislature’s attention for state dollars as a state-funded school, we needed to tell them we not only care, but we’ll vote for you if you support us.”
She later worked with former New Jersey Congressman Rush Holt. After graduating from Seton Hall Law School, LaRusso became a lawyer. “I wanted to really develop those trial skills of advocacy, persuasive writing, and I wanted to do depositions, so I became a trial lawyer, and I litigated,” she says.
LaRusso worked with two law firms until she joined former Gov. Phil Murphy’s administration as an associate and then senior counsel in the Governor’s Authorities Unit for five years. A small cohort “working behind the scenes, ensuring that the governor’s policy is implemented through all state agencies and authorities.”
She says she considers them “stealth little ninjas.”
On one of her first days working with the Murphy administration, her boss handed her a bunch of important documents and told her to “get them signed.” They were the bid documents for the World Cup, LaRusso says. And that is where it all began in 2018, she says, noting she went to the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority, which signed and approved them.
She also had to manage the joint application with New York City and respond to FIFA questions and concerns. “It was a lot of work because it was not only on the New Jersey side, but we had to reciprocate on the New York side,” she says.
FIFA’s New Jersey Contact
And so, LaRusso became FIFA’s point of contact in New Jersey.
“We were not only looking to host in general matches, but the governor at the time, Phil Murphy, had his eye on the final,” she says. New York New Jersey was selected for both.
“On July 19, all eyes will be on New Jersey as a projected 3 billion viewers will watch the World Cup Final, considered the largest event in the world,” LaRusso says.
Once New York New Jersey was awarded the bid, the nonprofit had to be formed, the New York New Jersey 2026 World Cup Host Committee. LaRusso established the committee with Bruce Revman of New York, which included a board and 30 staff to work closely with FIFA, she says.
Ultimately, the committee and FIFA work together to help soccer grow and produce economic impact for the region. “The legacy for this is also increased tourism, and we hope people have a good experience and want to come back to our region and the United States,” she says. “We want everyone who visits to leave with a communal memory that they feel a part of something bigger than themselves.”
Once the World Cup is over, LaRusso says she plans to enjoy some time down the shore with her husband, Daniel Nathan, who earned a degree in psychology from Rutgers College in 2005, and their three children: Jack, 10, Ryan, 7, and Eve, 6. The couple met at a campus fraternity party, started dating in 2000, and say they owe everything to Rutgers for bringing them together. “We are very grateful for that,” she says. “When we were having kids, we wanted their first words to be Rutgers because we love the school and are big supporters.”
The family attends Rutgers football games together, and she recently took them to the Senegal soccer team’s training site at Rutgers. “I wanted them to see that Rutgers does big things, and, of course, we took pictures with the Scarlet Knight.”
LaRusso also served on the board of the Alumnae Association of Douglass College from 2014–16 and is currently a general member.
LaRusso’s interest in the World Cup comes from her grandparents. “I grew up with soccer in the background of my life. We always rooted for Spain, and of course, the United States,” she says. “I grew up knowing what a World Cup meant, to feel pride and to root for your country.”
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