Gretchen Ruck is a Senior Managing Director at Ankura based in Washington, DC. As a distinguished thought-leader and tireless executive, Gretchen has over 20 years of global, broad-based experience supporting financial and professional services, banking and high-tech companies, healthcare organizations, and government agencies. She brings a rare combination of technology and cyber risk expertise, diverse industry experience, and the skills of a trusted senior advisor, leader, and a consensus builder.
EXPERIENCE
Gretchen serves as an advisor to senior executives, established boards, government leaders, and investors. She specializes in examining and addressing the impact of cybersecurity, privacy regulations, and technology risks on banking and critical infrastructure, technology services, consumers, and healthcare providers.
Gretchen has been instrumental in shifting conversations concerning technology risk and cybersecurity from backrooms to the boardroom. She’s a frequent contributing writer and speaker on topics ranging from cybersecurity, privacy, and technology risk to inclusiveness and advocacy. Her insights on current events have been featured in The Economist, Quartz, Bloomberg, Financial Times, USA Today, Mirror, and Law360, in addition to numerous other respected media outlets. She has contributed to international dialog and cooperation through collaboration with esteemed organizations including the World Economic Forum, UN Human Rights Commission, the Obama White House, the European American Chamber of Commerce, and the French American Foundation.
Prior to joining Ankura in 2021, Gretchen held key roles at leading professional service providers. Most recently, Gretchen advised many of the top 25 private equity firms on M&A technology and security risks and on portfolio company vulnerabilities, intervening on investments with performance concerns. She was responsible for building a multimillion-dollar practice and for leading the evaluation of over $200 billion of transactions for corporations and private equity investors.
Gretchen holds a degree in International Business from American University and has earned industry credentials in cybersecurity, auditing, project/program management, risk management, privacy and data protection, and engineering. In her spare time, she advises and serves as a fiduciary in leadership roles on the boards of numerous non-profit and charitable organizations, focused on supporting the needs of children and communities and on building a diverse and inclusive society.
