About
Lauren Grafer Schweibold
Lauren Grafer Schweibold founded Madison Events in 2016, after spending nearly fifteen years in event planning and development roles at leading financial institutions and non-profit organizations. She began her career at Bear Stearns where she planned the firm’s largest and highest-profile conferences and executive events. Lauren’s corporate experience expanded at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods (KBW) before she transitioned into the non-profit sector, working as the philanthropy event director at the Humane Society of the United States.
Combining her strong corporate and non-profit background with Madison Events’ early focus in social event creation, Lauren caters to every client need and focus. She has worked with countless celebrities, Fortune 500 CEOs and other high-profile individuals on their personal events, conferences, weddings, and client entertainment outings.
Lauren’s passion for the business stems from her genuine love of creating beautiful, captivating, and memorable experiences for her clients. She believes every event tells a unique story, and she tailors every detail to match the vision and values of her clients. Her selective and hands-on approach allows each event to be highly personal and perfectly curated for the individual.
Lauren remains an avid supporter of several charitable organizations and frequently donates her time to planning fundraising events on both a local and national scale. Some of the numerous organizations she has worked with include The Bruce Museum, the Fortune Society, Minds Matter, and the River Fund. She currently sits on the Advisory Board of WellBeings Charity and Reach Prep, and the Board of Directors of the Breast Cancer Alliance. In 2023, Lauren formed a partnership with the SPCA Westchester to help save homeless dogs who would otherwise have little chance of finding their forever homes. Every event hosted by Madison Events provides 10 dogs with their journey to freedom and ultimately, their forever family. Learn more here.
Lauren lives in Greenwich, CT with her husband Andrew, their three young children and fur baby, Oreo. When she’s not at work, Lauren is likely to be obsessing over the latest event design trends, jaw-dropping hotel interiors or new restaurant offerings to keep a pulse on the industry. And of course, finding forever homes for animals in need.
Hillary Sherman
Hillary Sherman joined Madison Events in 2024. Hillary began her event planning career at Bear Stearns where she managed the corporate events team and planned the firm’s largest industry conferences and executive events. She remained there until 2008 when she left the corporate world to raise her children. Even from home, Hillary always kept her hand in event planning, but in a different capacity. She became quite involved in her children’s schools and charitable organizations, volunteering to chair several benefits and family programming events. She has worked on events for the Children's Museum of the East End and UJA Supplies for Success.
Hillary’s attention to detail has always been her strength and she is devoted to using her organizational skills to facilitate the process with clients, colleagues and vendors. Diving into the creative process with her clients is one of her favorite parts of her role, and she loves nothing more than seeing an event come to life.
Hillary sits on the Auxiliary Board at Mount Sinai Hospital and the Ladies Board at Fresh Meadow Country Club, and she has held numerous roles with her school PTA. Hillary lives in Manhattan with her husband David and two teenage boys. When she is not obsessing over the next family event or trip, you can usually find her cheering for her boys on the sidelines. Hillary loves to travel, play tennis, pickleball and golf and spend time with her family and friends.
Michelle Rehlaender
Michelle Rehlaender is an Events Manager at Madison Events who works closely with Lauren on client events from initial concept to final execution.
Michelle brings with her the unique combination of an incredible eye for design and deep event management expertise. Following graduation from Parsons The New School for Design, Michelle joined A|X ARMANI EXCHANGE as a photography producer, where she managed in-house video production and collaborated with creative teams to execute photo & video shoots as well as brand events.
Michelle’s passion for high-end design kept her in the fashion world for her next role at KCD Worldwide where, for nearly a decade, she managed and executed the collection coordination process for top fashion shows in New York, LA, London, Milan, Paris, Tokyo, and Shanghai. Michelle oversaw show management for clients including Louis Vuitton, Tommy Hilfiger and Coach. She worked closely with design teams, sourcing everything from stylists and photographers to venues and set designers, while overseeing multi-million dollar budgets.
Michelle moved to Greenwich in 2020 with her husband, Tripp, and their two children, James and Charlotte. An avid traveler who loves exploring restaurants, interiors and fashion trends across the globe, Michelle is passionate about doing the same in her Fairfield County backyard.
