Ridgway White has led the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation for nearly a decade, overseeing one of the nation’s most prominent philanthropic organizations while spearheading revitalization efforts in Downtown Flint.
In addition to his Foundation role, he chairs the U.S. Sugar Corporation Board and serves on the boards of the Isabel Foundation, Charles Stewart Harding Foundation, MFO Management Company, Ayablu and Mizzen Education, Inc. A graduate of Hobart College, White studied architecture, economics and urban planning. He is a strong advocate for the role community foundations play in driving positive change both locally and globally.
A champion of social entrepreneurship, White played a key role in building two schools on a shared campus in Flint: the Michigan School for the Deaf and Powers Catholic High School. This project provided state-of-the-art facilities for both institutions.
Appointed president of the Mott Foundation in 2015, White stepped into leadership during the height of the Flint water crisis. Under his guidance, the Foundation quickly approved a $4 million grant to help Flint reconnect to the Detroit water system and restore clean water. In 2016, he led Mott’s commitment to provide up to $100 million over five years to aid the city’s recovery – surpassing that goal in just over four years.
In his earlier work, White served as a loaned executive for the Uptown Reinvestment Corporation, leading the development of over one million square feet of mixed-use space in Flint. Key projects included the creation of the Flint Health and Wellness District, home to the Flint Farmers’ Market and Michigan State University’s College of Human Medicine, earning the Urban Land Institute Michigan’s Development of the Year Award in 2014.
White’s professional achievements are numerous and well-known; but what about the man behind the titles – the devoted father with a spirit for adventure? Keep reading to find out!
1. What’s something people would never guess about you?
In September, I got second place in a steer-wrestling competition at a rodeo in Colorado – I have the big, shiny belt buckle to prove it!
2. What skill would you most like to learn?
I enjoy building and fixing things – from working on cars to constructing a trebuchet with my son. I wish I had more time to do those kinds of things. I want to learn how to fly a helicopter – that, or how to be more patient; but flying a helicopter sounds like more fun.
3. What is your favorite family tradition?
Spending the Fourth of July week with family and friends at Torch Lake is the absolute best.
Anytime my work leads to smiles on kids faces, it is a tremendous reward.
4. What is the best gift you have received?
My two great kids are definitely the best gift, aside from the antique curling stones that my wife Shannon gave me one year for Christmas – we enjoy having curling parties when the lake freezes.
5. What’s the most beautiful place you’ve ever visited?
I would say it is a small town called Ubud in the central foothills on Bali, Indonesia. My wife and I visited it on our honeymoon.
6. What has been the most rewarding experience in your work?
Anytime my work leads to smiles on kids faces, it is a tremendous reward. My biggest hope is that the smile you see on a student’s face when you walk into a kindergarten classroom is still there when they walk across the stage at graduation.
7. What are you most excited about in your life right now?
I am excited about the prospect of attracting a U.S.-owned, advanced manufacturing company to Genesee County that will create thousands of jobs.
