Author Archives: Rusty Rueff

About Rusty Rueff

Rusty Rueff, author of purposed worKING. Rusty Rueff is the former Chairman Emeritus of The GRAMMY Foundation in Los Angeles. He most recently completed the successful 16 month leadership role as Coordinating National Co-Chair for Technology for Obama (T4O) for the reelection of President Obama and ten-years of Board service and President of the Board of Trustees of the American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco. Corporately, most recently Rueff was the Chief Executive Officer at SNOCAP, Inc. until the acquisition of the company by imeem, Inc. in April 2008. Before joining SNOCAP in 2005, he was Executive Vice President of Human Resources at Electronic Arts (EA) from 1998 until 2005. He was also with the PepsiCo companies for more than ten years, with the Pratt & Whitney division of United Technologies for two years, and in commercial radio as an on-air personality for six years. Rusty holds an M.S. in counseling and a B.A. in radio and television from Purdue University. In 2003 he was named a distinguished Purdue alumnus, and he and his wife, Patti, are the named benefactors of Purdue’s Patti and Rusty Rueff School of Visual and Performing Arts. He is a corporate director of Glassdoor.com and runcoach. He is the co-founder and Executive Committee Member of T4A.org, serves on the Founding Circle of The Centrist Project and a founding Board Member of The GRAMMY Music Education Coalition. He is also the co-author of the book Talent Force: A New Manifesto for the Human Side of Business. Rusty and his wife, Patti, reside in Hillsborough, CA and Charlestown, R.I.

day 2370: Barrier Breaking

“He isn’t here! He is risen from the dead, just as He said would happen.”

I woke yesterday morning to the news that Sir Roger Bannister had died.  As the first person to break the 4 minute mile record, he stood out as an example of a barrier breaker.  We have many who break barriers and some get celebrated and some don’t but time seems to have a way of acknowledging those who went first and if they did it in the right way, they are remembered and better yet, they inspire others to do the same.  What barriers in our own companies are we ready to break?  Do we have those who have not only the courage, but also the tenacity and the preparedness to do what it takes to break that barrier?  Roger Bannister just didn’t go out and decide one day he would run a 3:59.4 mile.  He made a decision long before that he would, then he did.

We are in the Easter season.  I am excited as we prepare for the celebration of Christ’s resurrection.  Our church, Cornerstone San Francisco, is preparing a new musical called, “Come and See”.  I play a small part in it, and it reminded me so personally that Jesus broke the greatest barrier of all, just for you and me.

Reference:  Matthew 28:6 (New Living Translation)