Ben Richgruber has over 25 years of leadership experience in small business, hospitality, tourism, events, and non-profit organizations. He has helped open or manage five hotels, three movie theaters, and a performing arts center.  He even spent a little time working at Walt Disney World just to be sure he was doing it right.

​

As the Executive Director of a performing arts center, Ben transformed an annual operating loss into a profit in just a few short years, ultimately retiring the mortgage and leaving the organization debt free. Through aggressive marketing he increased annual ticket revenue, donations, and overall artistic capacity of events.

 

During his time in hospitality he increased guest satisfaction, employee retention and overall profitability for multiple hotel properties. He implemented new training programs for a multi-cultural staff, and managed the grand opening of a 400 person banquet facility.

​

As a member of multiple community and economic development teams Ben was instrumental in the development of a new $60M arts center, a $4M boutique hotel renovation, and the reinvention of a jazz festival.

 

Ben has been a volunteer and Board Member with over a dozen non-profit organizations including Chambers of Commerce, tourism bureaus, music and book festivals and downtown improvement entities.