Thom Ruhe
Public Speaker, Writer, and Father in North Carolina
Thom Ruhe is President and CEO of NC IDEA, a private foundation committed to making North Carolina a national leader in supporting the launch and growth of entrepreneurial ideas.
Prior - CEO of the Entrepreneurial Learning Initiative, Publisher of ID8Nation and Founder of EcDevPartners. He is helping communities around the world unlock the economic potential that comes from democratizing entrepreneurship.
Prior to leading these three complimentary groups, Thom was Vice President of Entrepreneurship at the Kauffman Foundation. In this capacity, he directed the Foundation's programs addressing entrepreneurial education, mentoring, access to capital and fostering entrepreneurial communities. Additionally, Thom was President of Kauffman Labs for Enterprise Creation, a school dedicated to advancing experiential-based community education.
Ruhe serve/d/s in a variety of board and advisory capacities including: The World Economic Forum Global Agenda Council for fostering Entrepreneurship, Board of Advisers for The Kenan Institute of Free Enterprise at UNC and is a founding trustee and Board Chair for Innovation Fund America.
Thom has been quoted and published in: NYTimes, WSJ, Forbes, Inc., and more. He has also been an invited speaker and participant in a variety of functions all over the world including the United Nations (General Assembly), the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace (Vatican), the USPTO, NACCE, AACC, USASBE, and Global Entrepreneurship Week and the Global Entrepreneurship Congress.
Thom has traveled the world advising governments, NGOs, economic development groups and universities on engaging their constituencies in the empowering potential of entrepreneurship.