Position with CNE: Consultant
Email: ryan@ryanripperton.com
Phone: 804-592-1481
Ryan Ripperton has more than 25 years’ experience leading and advising nonprofit organizations, 19+ of them as an Executive Director.
From 2010 to 2022, Ryan was Executive Director of SPARC, a youth arts education organization in Richmond, Virginia. During his tenure, SPARC raised over $17 million, expanded the budget by 300%, and increased the organization’s reputation dramatically, earning regional and national awards for program quality and innovation.
In 2021, Ryan opened Ryan Ripperton Consulting, a consulting practice focused exclusively on the nonprofit community. Ryan Ripperton Consulting helps nonprofit leaders get clear on their strategy and achieve sustained results. Ryan leads projects in strategic planning and strategy implementation, board governance and engagement, succession planning and executive sabbatical, and executive director coaching.
Ryan holds a Master of Business Administration from the University of Southern Indiana and a Bachelor of Music Education from the University of North Carolina. He serves on the Richmond Chapter of the. Irvin Ian Center for Inclusive Communities and on an alumni Board at his alma mater. Ryan has served as Board Treasurer for Virginians for the Arts, as Chair of the Resident Company Association of the Dominion Energy Center for the Performing Arts in downtown Richmond, as a member of the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee at his church, and on grant panels for the Virginia Commission for the Arts.
Ryan is an instructor for both public and private workshops in nonprofit leadership, board-staff partnership, board governance, and strategic management.
Ryan entered nonprofit leadership out of a deep desire to help people, and his passion in nonprofit consulting is for helping other nonprofit leaders find their way and achieve balance in their leadership. He draws not just on best practices, but also on direct personal experience, to help nonprofit organizations through custom-tailored solutions.
Ryan’s wife Danielle Ripperton is the Executive Director of the Children’s Museum of Richmond, and they have two spunky kids.