Rusty Rueff

Rusty Rueff

Today, I find myself operating, learning, writing, speaking, coaching, consulting and volunteering at an exciting intersection of technology, arts & entertainment, politics, talent management, and faith.

I was the CEO of SNOCAP from 2005 through the sale of the company to 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 I was Executive Vice President of Human Resources for Electronic Arts (EA), at the time the world's largest and leading, interactive entertainment software company. Joining EA in 1998, I was responsible for global Human Resources, Talent Management, Corporate Services and Facilities, 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, I held positions with the PepsiCo companies for over ten years.  I concluded my career with PepsiCo as Vice President, International Human Resources. Prior to my tenure with PepsiCo, I spent two years with the Pratt & Whitney Division of United Technologies.  In addition, I spent six years in commercial radio as an on-air personality. I hold an M.S. degree in Counseling, and a B.A. degree, in Radio and Television from Purdue University. I was given the honor in 2003 of being named a Distinguished Purdue Alumni and now serve as a Director of the Purdue Foundation. My wife and I are the named benefactors of Purdue’s; Patti and Rusty Rueff School of Visual and Performing Arts.

Along with advising and angel investing in a number of companies, I currently serve on the Corporate Boards of Glassdoor.com, HireVue, and ReThink Books (where I am also a co-founder). I am President of the Board of the San Francisco based American Conservatory Theater (A.C.T.) and Vice Chair of The GRAMMY Foundation in Los Angeles. I am a member of the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (ATAS) and the National Association of Recording Arts and Science (NARAS). I am also the co-author of Talent Force: A New Manifesto for the Human Side of Business, (Prentice-Hall. 2006) and I regularly contribute to a number of blogs including as the founding writer of Glassdoor.com's Clearview Collection, and my own blogs: Bolts of Thinking, Purposed worKING, and American Spectacles. For 2012 much of my time and energy is focused on my role as Coordinating National Co-Chair for "Technology for Obama". My wife, Patti, and I reside in Hillsborough, CA. and Charlestown, RI.

Rusty Rueff

Talent Force: A New Manifesto for the Human Side of Business

Talent Force

Hank Stringer and I wrote this book in 2005 and it was published by Prentice-Hall in February 2006. We wrote the book because of what we perceived a need in the marketplace for education on how to truly attract the best people to organizations and with all the change in technology, industry, globalization, we felt the time was right to commit ourselves to the project. It has been very gratifying to see the global reception to the book. You can buy your copy here:

Purchase Book

From the back cover:

Only one thing really differentiates your business from your competitor: your people. Do you have the right talent in the right place at the right time? It's no longer enough to have a 'workforce': you need a high-impact Talent Force.  The authors first identify the massive social, cultural, and economic shifts that are transforming hiring as we know it.  We are a smaller, closer, and more competitive world, as Baby Boomers are retiring in the US, India is flourishing due to outsourcing and educational development, and China is a strong new economic force. Add to that the fact that today's best people have radically new expectations and approaches to work; this book reveals what they want and how to meet those needs while building your business. Learn how to develop and implement a worldclass talent plan that aligns with business objectives, and define metrics to track and optimize success. Discover how candidates are using technology to evaluate new opportunities, benchmark compensation, and create new back-channels of communication about worklife. Maximize these new technologies to grow Talent Force, tap into new sources of competitive intelligence and stay ahead of the pack.

Rusty Rueff

Hank and Rusty Talent Partners

Hank Stringer is a dear friend. We first got to know each other in the late 90's when he had founded Hire.com and EA was their seventh customer. Hank and I began a weekly conversation on Wednesday mornings (we call it scheduled collaboration). These weekly half-hour to hour calls turned into a published book, book tours all across the country, speaking engagements around the world together (including Norway), and too numerous people to mention who we have met and tried to help out a little in their journey to be better at what they do.

Hank and Rusty Talent Partners as an entity consists of lots of services and ideas.

We are available for consulting, speaking and consulting. Since we are just two guys who love helping people and organizations grow and develop, what we can do for companies or individuals can be tailored as uniquely as you desire.

Most recently, Rusty has been engaged for; an organization and leadership evaluation project with the United States Olympic Committee (USOC); digital strategy and talent consulting with GameStop, Inc.; talent consulting with The Apollo Group (University of Phoenix), executive coaching with Delivery Agent, Inc.; strategic direction consulting with Events to Savor, Inc.

If something here, or within our book, piques your interest, please do not hesitate to reach to either of us:

or

Rusty Rueff

worKING: Finding the Purpose in Your Work Life

After co-writing the book Talent Force and hearing from lots of people about their own journey to find the meaning and purpose within their work, it got me thinking about what would be the most important think we are supposed to be doing with the 40, 60, 70+ hours of week that we spend “in the office”. (By the way, with all deference to the 4 Hour a Week book author that just doesn’t fly for the rest of us). So, I started my own personal journey in 2006 to find out how we can make our work, what I would call “Kingdom Work” with the belief that God has put us here for a purpose and we must find that purpose within our work as well as the rest of our life. In 2006, 2008, 2010 (and now 2012 again) I read the Bible all the way through and did my own annotation of the verses of the Bible that relate to work. On October 1, 2008 I began a Monday – Friday workday devotional blog called Purposed worKING. You can check it out at: http://purposedworking.blogspot.com/

I am now exploring how to move the blog into other mediums. More to come on this later this year.

I have attached the slides to a presentation I did at my church awhile back. They aren’t all that self-explanatory, but you will get the gist. I’ve also attached a recent paper from Northwestern written after an interview with me on my leadership style. While not explicit, you should see some of the principles of worKING embedded within the paper.

If you have thoughts on this topic, I would love to hear from you about it. Until then, please check it out and subscribe at: http://purposedworking.blogspot.com/

Rusty Rueff

Speaking Engagements

Sampling of Past Engagements:

  • KPIX TV – Eye on the Bay
  • OnRec National Recruiting Conference Keynote and Session Speaker
  • Fellowship Forum, Palo Alto, CA
  • KGO TV: View from the Bay
  • Business Connect Program, San Francisco, CA
  • Belmont University, Los Angeles
  • Hewlett-Packard Senior HR Team Global Meeting
  • CIGNA Insurance Global HR Meeting, New Orleans
  • Purdue University Presidential Inauguration, Panel Moderator, West Lafayette, IN
  • Profiled on ClubENetworks — Pro Series
  • Pizza Hut Alumni Roundtable, New Orleans, LA
  • Cornerstone Church, San Francisco, CA
    www.cornerstone-sf.org / Go to Media Player and look for dates of speaking
  • InnoTown, Speaker, Norway
  • Milken Institute. Los Angeles, CA
  • Music Expo, Los Angeles, CA
  • Guest Speaker, Nettwerk Music Senior Management Retreat, San Diego, CA
  • Guest Speaker, Walmart.com Company Meeting, San Francisco, CA
  • War on Talent Presentation/Panel, Palo Alto, CA
  • Graduate Ministry Department, UC Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, CA
  • Prentice-Hall, National Collegiate Webcast, Co-host
  • National Association of Industrial and Office Properties (“NAIOP”)
    National Conference, San Francisco, CA
  • PeopleClick National User Conference, Keynote Speaker, Amelia Island, FL
  • Play Conference, Keynote Speaker, Berkeley, CA
  • Dallas Chamber of Commerce, Keynote Speaker, Dallas, TX
  • Men in Gold, Silvia Blocher Exhibit, SFMOMA, Interviewee, San Francisco
  • Mortar Board National Leadership Conference, Keynote Speaker, Columbus, OH
  • South by Southwest Music Conference, Seminar Host, Austin, TX

Rusty Rueff

Corporate Boards

Current Director:

Glassdoor HireVue
Rethink Books

Current Advisory Board Member:

  • RootMusic, San Francisco, CA
  • Groupiter, San Francisco, CA
  • Novotus, Austin, TX
  • Tagged, San Francisco, CA
  • UrbanTag, San Francisco, CA
  • Founders Den, San Francisco, CA
  • HR Examiner, Bodega Bay, CA

Former Board Director:

  • All Covered, Inc, Redwood City, CA (2001-2006)
  • Sports Potential, Redwood City, CA (2003-2007)
  • SNOCAP, Inc., San Francisco, CA (2005-2008)
  • ItzBig, Austin, TX (2006-2008)

Current Angel Investor:

Former Angel Investor:

Rusty Rueff

Philanthropic Boards

Current:

American Conservatory Theater

American Conservatory Theater, President of the Board, San Francisco, CA

The Grammy Foundation

The GRAMMY Foundation, Vice Chairman of the Board, Los Angeles, CA

Purdue University

Purdue University Liberal Arts Deans Advisory Council, Member, West Lafayette, IN

President’s Council on Diversity, West Lafayette, IN

President’s Foundation Board, West Lafayette, IN.

Past:

  • Dallas Theater Center, Trustee, Dallas, TX
  • Happen, Inc, Founding Board Member, Cincinnati, OH
  • Sage International Theatre Group, Founding Board President, Taos, NM

Rusty Rueff

Cornerstone Church, San Francisco

Cornerstone Church
  • Cornerstone
  • 459 17th Street
  • San Francisco, CA 94110
  • (17th between Valencia and Guerrero)

Patti and I began calling Cornerstone our home church back in late 2001. Since then we have both become involved and serve in the Children’s Ministry and also on the strategic planning group for the church’s future facility.

I have also had the privilege to serve by speaking at the church on occasion.

You can find those services within the attached link, go to the Media Player.

http://cornerstone-sf.org/overview

I personally invite you, if you are in San Francisco or the Bay Area, to come visit on a weekend and experience Cornerstone.

Rusty Rueff

Visual Arts

Patti and Rusty Rueff School of Visual and Performing Arts is the home of the Divisions of Art and Design, Dance, Music, and Theatre.

The School of Visual and Performing Arts was formed on September 1, 1966 and is currently composed of four divisions: Art and Design, Dance, Music, and Theatre. It serves other departments and schools through elective course offerings as well as granting Liberal Arts based undergraduate degrees. On the graduate level, the school grants Master of Arts, Master of Fine Arts, and Ph.D. degrees. The school has the distinction of being a double faceted program, and it serves a wide-ranging group of students while also serving Purdue University and the Lafayette community as the primary cultural resource for the community.

The school at this time has approximately 600 undergraduate majors and 60 graduate students. Beyond the undergraduate majors and graduate students, several thousand students enroll in practical, theoretical or historical art courses within the school.

The faculty of the school is composed of nationally recognized individuals who continue to practice their arts and do research while still interacting with students in the classrooms. The publications, art shows and performance-related activities bring wide-spread attention to Purdue University and the presence of the arts on our campus. These academic and artistic activities also serve the University by being a prime recruiting tool for improving graduate training programs. These teacher/scholar/arts in many instances also serve the community through leadership and participation in community organizations dedicated to the arts.

Currently, the Art and Design Division offers undergraduate concentrations, majors, and minors in seven areas: Art Education, Art History, Fine Arts, Industrial Design, Interior Design, Photography and Visual Communications Design. The masters of Art degree is offered currently in all areas except Art History and Interior Design, and the Ph.D. program in Art Education offered in conjunction with the School of Education. These degree programs offer students who wish to concentrate in the visual arts at the undergraduate and graduate levels an extensive range of focused investigations into the making, studying and teaching of the visual arts in their various dimensions. Art and Design consistently educates approximately 500 undergraduate majors and 35 full-time graduate students in these programs.

The Dance Division offers courses in modern, ballet, jazz and ethnic dance; the choreography of dance movement; dance performance; and dance appreciation. Students may chose a minor in dance or select courses to fulfill a School of Liberal Arts curriculum requirement. Many students look to dance as a meaningful elective in their education, or take dance to enhance their performing skills if they are involved in related programs. Through their studies, students in the Dance Division gain an appreciation for dance as an art form, of its history, and cultural influences. Each semester culminates with their Purdue Repertory Dance Company Concert, one of the finest productions of dance in the area.

The Music Division is committed to providing high quality instruction to a range of Purdue students, broadly distributed across most schools of the University. Course offerings may be grouped in three categories: 1) A course required for the Elementary Education degree which introduces prospective teachers to the skills, resources, methods and repertory for instructing classroom music. 2) A sequence of courses designed to lead progressively through the principles and parameters of Music Theory. The goal of expanding individual skills is complemented by enhanced awareness and understanding of the Western musical tradition. 3) A group of courses focused on the literature of music. The first, introduction survey (appreciation), additionally emphasizes the listening experience itself.

There are three readily identifiable components of the Theatre Division: the undergraduate program, the graduate program and the production program. The latter also serves as a laboratory for the whole division. Each program has distinct goals, although the objectives of all the programs are inter-related. The undergraduate program supports the broad-based liberal arts education of the bachelor of art degree candidates. The graduate program offers specialized academic training. Productions serve as a major cultural resource for the University as a whole and for the Lafayette-West Lafayette community.

The school's main office is located in Pao Hall, 552 West Wood Street, West Lafayette, Indiana. You can reach us by phone at (765) 494-3056, by fax at (765) 496-1198, and by e-mail at .

Rusty Rueff

Visual and Performing Arts Profile

Named benefactor of Patti and Rusty Rueff School of Visual and Performing Arts, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana

President, Board of Trustees, American Conservatory Theatre, (A.C.T)
San Francisco, California (Term July 2010 – June 2013)

  • Trustee, American Conservatory Theater (A.C.T.) — 2003 to present

Vice Chairman, The GRAMMY Foundation,
Los Angeles, California (Term July 2010 – June 2012)

  • Board Member, The GRAMMY Foundation — 2007 to present

Board President and Co-Founder, Sage International Theater Group,
Taos, New Mexico — 1997 to 2001

Trustee, Dallas Theater Center,
Dallas, Texas — 1993 to 1997

Founding Board Member, "Happen, Inc".
Cincinnati, Ohio - 1999 to 2002

Executive Producer (American Conservatory Theater)

  • A Mother by Maxim Gorky adapted by Constance Congdon
  • A Number by Caryl Churchill
  • The Voysey Inheritance by Harley Granville-Barker adapted by David Mamet
  • The Rainmaker by N. Richard Nash
  • Boleros for the Disenchanted by Jose Rivera
  • Vigil by Morris Panych
  • Clybourne Park by Bruce Norris
  • Maple and Vine (Spring 2012) by Jordan Harrison

Producer (American Conservatory Theater)

  • The Black Rider: The Casting of the Magic Bullets by Edgar S. Burroughs, Tom Waits and Robert Wilson

Professional Societies:

  • Member, Academy of Television Arts and Sciences
  • Member, National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences

Other Arts Related Background / Experience:

  • Actor - college and high school
  • Ballet dancer with the Louisville Ballet's production of The Nutcracker — ( 1968-1970 )
  • Member, Purdue University, College of Liberal Arts, Dean Advisory Council — ( 2003 to Present )

Rusty Rueff

Other Writing Projects

One of my passions has always been writing. I used to do a lot more creative writing than I have done recently. Hank Stringer and I writing Talent Force scratched some of that itch, but not enough.

I have a few plays and short stories under construction. I will use this page to unveil those as they get closer and into real writing mode.

Rusty Rueff

Social Network Links and More

Other good causes and sites of friends to check out: