Laura Ritterbush

WHAT DO YOU LOVE MOST ABOUT BEING YOUR AGE?
I’m more confident in who I am. I don’t have to be something else to get a job or be something else for someone; I have confidence in who I am. I also love the stage of life we’re in where our kids are older. It gives us a lot more freedom and flexibility as a couple, and it feels like we’re hitting the prime of our careers, and I’m enjoying it.

WHAT HARDSHIPS HAVE YOU ENDURED THAT YOU FEEL HAVE MADE YOU STRONGER?
There are a couple as I was growing up; my oldest brother died early at the age of 23 of a heart attack. I was in middle school and experienced as a family what it’s like to lose someone early on. That changes your whole perspective on life, how precious it is, and how it can go at any time. It was a hard time for our family.
I was home with my boys for ten years, and when you’re a stay-at-home mom, it can be challenging at times. When you’re usually geared to be at work or contributing in that way, I did a lot of volunteering during that time. I had to find my place and be confident in who I was then; even when I didn’t have that work identity, that was a more challenging time.

WHAT DO YOU CONSIDER YOUR GREATEST ACHIEVEMENT?
My greatest achievement is being confident and able to run an organization as a president and CEO; that feels like a big one. A great achievement is that we have two boys who are doing well, are confident in who they are, and are finding their way in life. There are personal and professional achievements, and the greatest things are yet to come. Professionally, there are still a lot of opportunities out there. Where does our organization go? It’s not about my position but about the impact we can have on the communities we’re serving.

WHAT IS YOUR GREATEST EXTRAVAGANCE?
I don’t too much for extravagance. When you grow up on a farm where things are pretty tight, you don’t have extravagance.
Our biggest extravagance is we do vacations as a family. Even when I was a stay-at-home mom, we had one income and tried to figure out how to make vacations work. Whatever that made sense to do, and it meant we would drive instead of fly. So an extravagance now is we’re flying instead of driving because we can afford to. We took a trip to Arizona with the boys. Not every family wants to take the time or spend the money on that. Still, even on a tight budget, spending that extra on family experiences and time together was important.

WHAT IS YOUR MOST TREASURED POSSESSION?
I have a few items given to me by one of the boys or my husband, and I have a couple of things from my mom. My treasured possessions are the things that remind me of the people that I love.

WHAT’S YOUR FAVORITE THING YOU HAVE CHECKED OFF YOUR BUCKET LIST?
We took a trip to Alaska this last summer; it was our 25th-anniversary trip. We usually don’t do that for ourselves, it was a good trip.

WHAT IS YOUR IDEA OF PERFECT HAPPINESS?
Perfect happiness comes from my faith; I’m a Christian and know through crisis, my savior is my happiness and joy. You can experience that and be content no matter what else is happening around you.

WHAT ADVICE WOULD YOU GIVE YOUR YOUNGER SELF?
Be confident and know how to do what you need to do to get where you want to go. You can be a leader and be confident in who you are.
Be patient, take advantage of opportunities given to you for education and leadership development, and be willing to learn along the way.

DO YOU HAVE ANY WORDS OF WISDOM FOR YOUNGER WOMEN?
Be open to feedback and opportunities. If presented with an opportunity, go after it. Give yourself time to develop the skills and the leadership capacity. Take your time; seek out women who want to mentor you. Many of us want or are willing to do that but aren’t sure who’s seeking that opportunity.
If you see a woman leading who you think you want to be that person eventually, reach out to that person, whether it’s LinkedIn or even professionally, get to know them, and see if conversations develop into something more.

WHAT IS A TRAIT YOU ARE MOST PROUD OF?
It’s my care for others, caring deeply for others, whether it be family, employees, or the people we serve. That brings the passion and the heart for what I do.

WHAT IS YOUR MOTTO OR FAVORITE QUOTE?
“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.” – Theodore Roosevelt

WHAT DO YOU MOST VALUE IN YOUR FRIENDS?
I value friends who are willing to listen, want to hang out and do nothing, just to be there and be a presence. Friends who, even if you lose contact for a little while, you can pick it right back up. There are different groups of friends; there’s that group of friends you need who are willing to hold you accountable for who you are and how you’re showing up. Different pockets of friends meet all those needs.

HOW DID YOU CHANGE OVER THE YEARS?
A big part of how I’ve changed over the years is being confident in who I am. I’ve also changed my perception of others; I may think I know what someone’s going through, but I don’t. How I’ve changed a lot is how I perceive other people based on their actions. There’s typically a lot more going on than what their actions show, and someone may be doing something that I may disagree with, but I may not understand all that’s going on for that individual. That’s been a significant shift in how I’ve viewed life and viewed people. I am more understanding of where people are, what they’re capable of doing, and how they’re capable of showing up than I was 20 years ago.

IF YOU COULD CHANGE ONE THING ABOUT YOURSELF, WHAT WOULD IT BE?
There’s always the physical side that we, as women, always want to be talking about. For me, being healthy is very important. Having an easier foot size for shoes would be very helpful. When I think about my character, having the ability to slow down and seek understanding before I assume a position or an assumption of what’s happening. I’m working on that, but it’s a constant struggle; my mind goes to what I think is happening versus stopping, being curious, and asking questions before jumping to conclusions.

WHAT DO YOU HOPE FOR THE FUTURE GENERATIONS?
For future generations, I hope for peace and stability. When I think about my boys and their generation, I hope people can set aside their differences and get along. Just that basic, we all be kind. It doesn’t mean we all have to believe the same; we all have to think the same, but I hope future generations can figure out how to coexist in a way that is kind to one another.

WHAT BRINGS YOU THE MOST JOY AT THIS AGE?
Watching our boys find their passion and succeed. That is where a lot of joy is coming from now, just watching them come of age, find their passion, go after it, and help them think through that process. Professionally, it’s seeing our staff and leaders in the organization experience that same thing so that they can see the success we can accomplish. I want to see our organization flourish because our leaders can see their potential and are also moving toward that.

WHAT IS YOUR SUPERPOWER?
I am calm in the midst of chaos. I don’t get anxious super often. My family and staff may feel differently. I’m calm when we’re going through a crisis, being that calming presence for people when we’re going through something difficult.

DO YOU LIKE BEING 40+?
As I’m turning 50, I had to think about that. It feels different to me as I’m approaching that age. I want to make sure I accomplish things, what impact I want to leave, my influence on our boys, and what that looks like. And so, I’m thinking through it as you’re heading towards that retirement, which we have fewer years left to work than what we started with. It’s a very different perspective as I turned 50 over when I turned 40; it feels different.

WHEN IN YOUR LIFE, SO FAR, HAVE YOU FELT MOST CONFIDENT, AND WHY?
I feel like in the last couple of years especially. All the training, mentoring, and investing in my life has come to fruition. The job I’m able to have now and the success that we’re experiencing as an organization and so just that continued seeing the successes that are happening due to the leadership that I’m bringing to the organization has reinforced that confidence that yes, I can do this and can be successful.

IS THERE ANYTHING ELSE YOU WOULD LIKE TO ADD?
In my last two jobs, we’ve had people in leadership pass away suddenly or, in one case, commit suicide. Those were hard times when I relied on my faith. That was a big part of it, and that’s where I learned about that calming presence amid the storm. The staff relied on me to be present because I could be calm and do that. I attribute that back to my faith; I had something that grounded me in that moment that allowed me to stay calm during a chaotic time.