One of the reasons Teresa (Terry) Rasmussen has moved around so much in her career is because she loves learning about all the aspects the industry has to offer.
The president and CEO of Minnesota-based Thrivent first worked in healthcare as a dental hygienist. Despite loving to help people stay healthy, she pursued a degree in accounting and became a CPA but decided to go into law instead.
“As a lawyer, I was a trial attorney for the Justice Department, and then went into private practice,” she said.
It was when she entered into private practice she got a taste for the financial services space. She joined American Express as a retail bank lawyer, where she ran the gamut of financial services and joined Thrivent in 2005. She was named CEO in 2018.
It didn’t take her long to fall in love with the firm, she admits, because while she already understood all the financial aspects, she ultimately fell in love with the community impact the firm offers.
“If you look at the organizations who embark on transformations, very few of them actually succeed and yet, we're building momentum,” Rasmussen said. “We've laid a good foundation, and we're starting to see the results of that.”
Rasmussen must be doing something right. She’s being recognized as an InvestmentNews Awards 2024 Excellence Awardee, with the winners announced on June 20 at 583 Park Avenue, New York City in a glitzy, red carpet ceremony. Click here to register to attend.
Reflecting on her impoverished childhood and having to differentiate between life's necessities and wants, she recalls the greatest lesson one could learn from their parent: the value of a dollar.
“My dad actually gave me a great education around the value of money and how you use it and we were always taught to give back,” she says. “Experiencing that and then seeing that happen with our clients and that story repeat itself is really fulfilling.”
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