Rita Ryder is Executive Director of YWCA Relations for the YWCA of Seattle-King County-and Snohomish County. She joined the YWCA as Executive Director in 1978. The YWCA will serve more than 45,000 women and families at 38 sites in King and Snohomish Counties in 2008. The YWCA’s $30 million annual operating budget focuses on the issues of homelessness, unemployment and poverty, child and youth development and domestic violence.
Rita is a Co-chair of the Prosperity Partnership, a 4-County economic development initiative. She serves on the Boards of the Greater Seattle Chamber of Commerce, the Downtown Seattle Association, the Housing Resources Group, the YWCA of the USA and the National Association of YWCA Executives. Rita is a founding Board member of the Executive Alliance, a professional association of 180 health and human service agencies. She is a member of the Urban Enterprise Center Advisory Board, the Washington Families Fund Steering Committee, the Downtown Seattle Rotary, the YWCA World Service Council, the Washington Women’s Forum, and the International Women’s Forum. Rita is an Assistant Affiliate Professor with the University of Washington Graduate School of Social Work, and is a member and past chair of the Seattle University Masters of Non-Profit Leadership Program Visiting Committee.
Before joining the YWCA Rita was a Project Director and Manager in the Washington D.C. office of Booz, Allen and Hamilton, an international management consulting firm. Rita has a Bachelor’s degree from Seattle University and a Masters of Social Work Degree from the Catholic University of America.