Business Analyst, City of Winston-Salem
Ricky Ruvio has spent his career serving communities in North Carolina. A native of Dobson, Ruvio said that he has seen how smaller communities struggle to foster economic development. “I come from a small rural area … I’ve seen some of the hurdles that these smaller communities are experiencing.”
Prior to graduate school, Ruvio worked in Caldwell County for the Carolina College Advising Corps, helping first generation, low-income students attend college. But his work with DFI influenced his career choice. “It was incredibly meaningful and very formative. It dragged me into the career path that I ended up choosing and gave me a really high level understanding of local government real estate.”
After working on DFI projects in Shallotte and Elon, Ruvio recently started a job as business analyst for a regional utility run by the City of Winston-Salem, applying many of the skills he learned as a Fellow. “Being able to look at numbers and see where financial investments could be made for the better of the community, and making sure that financial stewardship is at the forefront and a guiding principle of the work that I do—that’s something that I definitely picked up serving as a DFI Fellow. I can look at something and say ‘What are the impacts going to be to the constituents?’”
As a lifelong resident of North Carolina, Ruvio sees himself as a natural constituent of DFI. “I’m a Carolina guy. I was born here. I was an undergraduate here. I went to graduate school here. I did AmeriCorps service here in the state and I work here. So, I’m very much a stakeholder myself. And to be a part of that process of making municipalities in the state better was pretty incredible.”
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I’m a Carolina guy. I was born here. I was an undergraduate here. I went to graduate school here. I did AmeriCorps service here in the state and I work here. So, I’m very much a stakeholder myself. And to be a part of that process of making municipalities in the state better was pretty incredible.
-Ricky Ruvio