Rusty Rueff
BA 1984, Radio and TV
MS 1986, Counseling, College of Education
Freelance Speaker, Consultant, and Writer, Hillsborough, CA
Along with currently being an investor and advisor of startup companies, in September 2014, Rusty Rueff was appointed by President Obama to The President’s Advisory Committee for the Arts for The Kennedy Center. Rueff is also the Board Chairman Emeritus of The Grammy Foundation in Los Angeles.
As a CEO, Rueff most recently led SNOCAP, Inc. from 2005 until the successful acquisition of the company by imeem, Inc. in April, 2008. SNOCAP was the world’s first end-to-end solution for digital licensing and copyright management services empowering record labels and individual artists to monetize their digital creations on popular sites such as MySpace and other social networks.
Prior he was Executive Vice President of Human Resources for Electronic Arts (EA). Joining EA in 1998, he was responsible for global Human Resources, Talent Management, Corporate Services, Facilities and Real Estate, Corporate Communications, and Government Affairs, reporting to EA’s Chairman and CEO. In 2003, Fortune Magazine named EA one of the “Top 100 Places to Work For” in the United States.
Prior to joining EA, Rueff held positions with the PepsiCo companies for over 10 years. He concluded his career with PepsiCo as Vice President, International Human Resources.
Prior to his tenure with PepsiCo, Rueff spent two years with the Pratt & Whitney Division of United Technologies. In addition, he spent six years in commercial radio as an on-air personality.
He holds an M.S. degree in Counseling, and a B.A. degree, in Radio and Television from Purdue University. He received the Liberal Arts Distinguished Alumni Award in 2003. Rueff and his wife are the named benefactors of Purdue’s; Patti and Rusty Rueff School of Visual and Performing Arts.
Along with advising and investing in numerous start-up companies, he currently serves on the Corporate Boards of; Glassdoor, HireVue, Rethink Books, and runcoach. He is the former President of the Board of Trustees of the San Francisco-based American Conservatory Theater (A.C.T.) and Chairman Emeritus of The Grammy Foundation in Los Angeles. Rueff is a member of theAcademy of Television Arts & Sciences (ATAS) and The National Association of Recording Arts and Sciences (NARAS).
From August 2011 through November 2012, he was in the founding leadership position of Coordinating National Co-Chair forTechnology for Obama, resulting in the successful reelection of President Barack Obama. In December 2012, Rusty co-foundedT4A.org and sits on the Executive Committee of the Board. In September 2014, President Obama appointed him to the Advisory Board for the Arts at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Arts.
He is the co-author of Talent Force: A New Manifesto for the Human Side of Business, (Prentice-Hall. 2006) and regularly writes for a number of blogs including the two of his own: Bolts of Thinking and Purposed worKING.
Rusty and his wife, Patti, reside in Hillsborough, CA. and Charlestown, RI.