Kathryn Ruscitto G’91 (Maxwell) and Elizabeth Ruscitto G ’12 (iSchool) and ’07 (Whitman) will join the LaunchPad for a conversation called “Leading In” about women trailblazing their personal and professional journey. The interactive chat on Wednesday, May 27 from 3 p.m. to 4 p.m. is the next in our popular “Tea Talk” series in partnership with The Republic of Tea. The mother and daughter are both SU graduates and accomplished leaders in their respective fields, sharing perspectives across generations. Both have built mission-driven and diverse organizations in their respective areas of expertise, with a focus on innovation. Both are also actively engaged mentors to Syracuse University startups. The conversation is open to the public via this Zoom link.
Kathryn Ruscitto is a graduate of the Maxwell School in Public Administration at SU and received her bachelor’s degree in political science and economics from Le Moyne College. Her career has included not for profits, government, and as CEO of St. Josephs Health, a system of 5,000 employees with an annual budget in excess of $800 million. She led investments to revitalize the community, a strategy to join Trinity the second largest U.S. health system, and a $750 million construction project to create a state-of-the art green patient tower.
She is a founding board member and chair of grants for the Mother Cabrini Health Foundation, a $4 billion dollar foundation investing in improving the social determinants of health care. In addition, she has helped launch the CNY Lyme and Tick Borne Disease Alliance, and is a Chair of the Board of View Arts. Over the years she has served as a board member of local and national health care and philanthropic organizations. She is a LaunchPad mentor, advising a number of student startups.
In the third age of her life she is focused on acting as an advisor, board leader and advocate for emerging leaders. “The most important contribution I can now make is opening doors for emerging leaders,” she says.
Elizabeth Ruscitto is the owner of Elizabeth Ruscitto Consulting, based in Boston and the San Francisco Bay area. She is a technical executive with 15 years of experience in building and scaling global software, hardware, and community programs. As a seasoned leader, she has created mission-driven, cross-functional teams with a strong sense of culture and meaningful growth. She was previously director of Developer Relations at HubSpot and Director of Developer Programs and Platform Integrations at Leap Motion. She has also been a facilitator for Techstars’ Startup Weekend globally.
Elizabeth got her launch in the startup world as a Syracuse University student, where she was employee number one and the community program manager for the Student Sandbox when it launched in 2010. She was the Entrepreneur-in-Residence at the Student Sandbox and was the co-founder of the original IDEA Connect Board at Syracuse University while pursuing her M.S. at the iSchool.
Since graduating from Syracuse, Elizabeth has helped companies build communities with more than 3.5 million members through thoughtful brand stories, servant leadership, and global-first program creation. Her expertise is in community development, growth and behavior models, scaling developer ecosystems, product go-to-market strategies, and accelerator program development.
Tea Talks are virtual fireside chats, structured like good conversations over a cup of tea with thought leaders on topics related to innovation, entrepreneurship and leadership. The LaunchPad at Syracuse University is pleased to present these conversations in partnership with The Republic of Tea.
