Meghan Hughes joined the Year Up Providence Team as its Executive Director in 2009, having spent the previous seven years at Tufts University. While there she received the school's Excellence in Teaching Award, led new curriculum development, and helped build a partnership with Northeastern University. Meghan’s commitment to public service is exemplified by her work in New Haven, where she directed the Yale/New Haven tutoring program and worked as a counselor with the Coordinating Committee for Children in Crisis, a private non-profit based in that city. In the late eighties, Meghan was the co-director of the Brownstone School in the Bronx, a non-profit education program for homeless children. Meghan was raised in Indianapolis and is the proud graduate of its public school system. She graduated magna cum laude from Yale and holds a PhD from New York University. A resident of Providence since 1999, Meghan was a fellow at the Rhode Island Foundation in 2011-2012, and she currently serves on the Board of the RISD Museum as a member of its executive committee and chair of its education committee.

Susan Ogle founded OGLE Training & Consulting in 1992 where she focuses on Change Management, Team Building, & Presentation Skills. Presently she is also a Career Advisor at URI, Kingston campus. Previous experience includes 10 years in financial services including People’s United Bank and over 10 years in career planning including Yale School of Management as well as her own private career consulting firm.  Her non-profit work started in 2002 when she joined ESC of New England, a Boston based Non-Profit serving RI and MA nonprofits to improve their effectiveness. She is a consultant focusing on organizational development, strategic planning, and team building projects. Some of her clients include: The Boston & RI Foundations, Jamestown Library, & Providence Women’s Center. She was awarded in 2004, from a group of 125 consultants, Outstanding Training Program of the Year, in 2008 for best consulting project, and in 2013 for Consultant of the Year.  Sue joined ASTD over 30 years ago & has been in National, Regional, & local leadership roles that include: National Membership Task Force, Northeast Regional Director, Southern CT Chapter President, and currently is a member of Bay Colonies. She has an MS in Human Relations and Counseling and numerous training certifications.

Mike Ritz, Executive Director, Leadership Rhode Island
Training language instructors from multiple cultures while studying applied psycholinguistics at Compania Linguistica in Mexico City sparked Mike's ongoing field research in what has become his lifelong interest -- human behavior and communication. Over the past 20 years Mike served as a Tri-lingual interrogator in the United States Army, established his first corporation by the age of 25, motivated people to excel at his fitness Boot Camps in Boston and Philadelphia, and served as the New England Regional Manager for an international health care company based in the United Arab Emirates. A former on-call analyst for CNN, Mike has been interviewed hundreds of times for TV, radio, newspapers and magazines. He has participated in nine documentaries in the past 10 years; one won an International Emmy. After serving two years on the Board of Governors, Mike became the Executive Director of Leadership Rhode Island in 2009. In 2012, in a volunteer capacity, Mike was appointed by the Secretary of Defense as the Rhode Island State Chairman for the Employer Support of the Guard & Reserve (ESGR) and, in 2013, as the Vice Chairman for the National Outreach Subcommittee.