RISING STARS IS SPONSORED BY
BY MOIRA MCCARTHY
ADVENTURE PARKS ARE IN GOOD HANDS—NOW AND IN THE FUTURE. T here are common threads that connect them, yet each of this year’s Rising Stars has their own passion, purpose, and point of view. Nominated by bosses and peers, their road to the adventure park world may have started at summer camp, on family trips, or just by chance. Their dedication to the industry stems from deep personal views—from why it’s important to get folks outside to harnessing the energy of helping guests find their own internal superhero.
RUTHIE RIVERS Adventure and Entertainment Risk Consultant, Granite Insurance
I f you told a younger Ruthie Rivers that she’d someday settle into an enriching career in insurance sales, she’d tell you that’s just plain nuts. “When they first approached me, I thought it was a joke,” Rivers says of her employer Granite Insurance. But then, “I realized that while ultimately my job is to sell insurance, I’m not a salesper- son—I’m a relationship builder.”
tered on the adventure industry, and insurance is just the mechanism that she chooses to serve that industry,” says one nominator. “With every action Ruthie takes, she strives to serve the adventure community at large, leaving it a better place than when she found it.” WHAT LED YOU TO THIS ROLE? My dad was a Navy Seal, and I grew up with an adventurous family. I thought I’d fit in hospitality tourism, so I got a job at a resort but found myself in a back office
staring at computer screens. An aerial park opened down the road so I took a job there. I was in my happy space again. In insurance, I am still in that space. WHAT’S A MOMENT YOU KNEW THIS CAREER WAS RIGHT FOR YOU? I feel that way when I have an initial conver- sation with a potential client. They’re dreading it, but when they meet me and see that I know the field, the jar - gon, and why we need what we need, they open up.
“Ruthie has a purpose-driven life cen-
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