Board Spotlight #9: Ruth Strohmeier Rock
Our new Treasurer-to-be is both creative and analytical
Over the past couple of years, David has organized a Monday night writers’ group, and while I knew some of the people who attended, from time to time he would mention a mystery person named Ruth Rock. Then last summer we began giving CATHARSIS benefit concerts, and I got to meet Ruth for myself. She came to another concert, then again to the one after that. I had been contemplating who our next Board member might be, and it occurred to me that she might be interested.
Little did I know what an ideal fit Ruth’s gifts and interests would be with our needs and opportunities! Not only does she love music and writing and work in accounting; she also brings decades of experience in nonprofit and business administration. With a rare blend of left-brain analytic thinking and right-brain creativity, her delightful personality is a wonderful addition to our Board, where she’ll be transitioning into our Treasurer role over the next year. Read on to learn more about why Ruth Rock rocks!
Tell us a little about yourself . . .
I moved to Nashville in 1990 and previously lived in Indiana and Kentucky. I earned an MBA from the Massey School at Belmont University and a BBA in governmental accounting from Eastern Kentucky University. I have worked in manufacturing, real estate development, engineering and traffic analysis, small business, and nonprofit religious organizations, serving in financial administration and reporting and cost and budget accounting. My greatest accomplishment however is my family: my husband of 35 years and our 3 grown children, and a host of nieces and nephews and godchildren and their children. I love to write and swim and read and sing and arrange flowers and cook. I volunteer with our parish at Christ Church Cathedral and of course here at CATHARSIS Nashville.
What excites you most about CATHARSIS?
The concept of a facility with resources available to creative minds for counseling and creating art, enjoying the company of others or the solitude of reflection, spiritual formation and wellness, all in one place is the most exciting part of the vision of CATHARSIS. The people involved in planning and creating such space are inspiring, and I am delighted to help make this vision a reality.
Why did you decide to serve on the Board?
I was honored to be asked to serve, and I am inspired by the vision and commitment of this brilliant group of people. Their determination to implement each step of the plan, to bring the vision to reality, raising money, securing endowment funds to finance operations, and providing services to those in need and to those creating visual, literary, musical and all manner of art, felt like a real call to support their work and my own as a writer.
What are you most looking forward to about our journey this year?
A beloved professor at Belmont said that the real work is in implementing the plan to achieve organizational success. I hope that my gifts and talents will enhance that implementation and that we will see real progress in securing resources and making a way out of no way. Building an organization from the ground up is a daunting endeavor! I look forward to seeing our progress, step by step, bird by bird—hat tips to the late Rep. John Lewis, Dr. Jim Cotham, and author Anne Lamott.