Nicole Ryf
Executive director
Waukesha County Center for Growth
Age: 39
Hometown: Bayside
Education: Bachelor’s in history and international economic policy studies from UW-Madison; Master’s in Urban Planning from UW-Milwaukee
Previous position: Chief strategy officer, Hampton Roads Alliance
What attracted you to the position?
“I actually am from the greater Milwaukee area originally and had been gone for about eight or nine years, working in a couple different places across the country. It’s always been on my radar that eventually I would love to move back and be close to friends and family, and then equally as importantly, when you do economic development work, it just is even more meaningful to do it in your home state.”
What’s your vision for the Waukesha County Center for Growth?
“It’s a very successful and impressive organization considering it’s been in existence for six years, so it’s fairly new but it’s had some good leadership obviously. … I think that over the next five to 10 years you’re going to see this organization really kind of take it to the next level. The foundations have been established, the communities in the area understand the value of this county-wide approach to economic development and I do think with my experiences in my past roles that I’ll really be able to focus in on … our key strategies.”
What are your interests outside of work?
“Definitely love being outside. My husband and I, we have a dog, we love going hiking, kayaking, biking, you name it, pretty much anything that we can do outdoors; that’s really appealing to us, so we’re very excited for fall.
“And then I’m personally really into baking and cooking. I have celiac so I’ve really had to learn a lot about how to prepare my own food. And then live music, so excited to get back to that Milwaukee live music scene. We missed Summerfest this year but looking forward to doing that and a lot of the other music festivals over the next year or so.”
