SUCCESS STORY | TAKEISHA HALL-RUFF Local grad starts on path that leads to rewarding career

She was 'just a kid from Ohio trying to make a start.'
By MARY ELLEN PELLEGRINI
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
Sometimes career choices line up neatly before you. Sometimes they jump out and grab you. Former Youngstown resident Takeisha Hall-Ruff discovered her niche in life via the latter route.
Hall-Ruff, the associate director of development at New York University Medical Center, is responsible for major gift fund raising -- securing donations of $25,000 or more for patient-care, medical research and medical education programs at NYUMC. She got her start when Cornell Medical Center (now New York Presbyterian Hospital-Weill Cornell Medical Center) responded to a resume she sent.
Fresh out of college at the time, Hall-Ruff was seeking employment in a health care organization. "I didn't know anything about development [fund raising] before going to Cornell. I didn't even know this profession existed. I was just a kid from Ohio trying to make a start," she said.
Cornell hired Hall-Ruff as the assistant to the manager of the annual giving program. "I started at the very, very bottom," she noted. Her duties included writing proposals, organizing site visits for foundation sponsors and helping to initiate new donor relationships.
Promotions
Hall-Ruff's adeptness for her vocation quickly led to promotions. Nine months after being hired, she advanced to Cornell's corporate and foundation relations office and eventually became interim director of that division. She credits her rise to a very encouraging supervisor. That mentor took Hall-Ruff to every office meeting and encouraged her to join a professional organization. "My boss saw something in me that I didn't see in myself, some potential," said Hall-Ruff.
Three years later, a chance luncheon meeting led her to NYUMC. Today, Hall-Ruff works with athletes, celebrities, businessmen and philanthropists. The position includes fund-raising galas with the rich and famous. While that may sound like a cushy job, Hall-Ruff's day-to-day responsibilities entail grueling, labor-intensive work.
Her duties
On any given day, Hall-Ruff may be making phone calls, scheduling meetings with donors, arranging hospital tours, writing proposals, gathering and sending information to prospective donors, reviewing materials from the research staff and discussing priorities with hospital chair people. "There's never a time when I'm focused on one thing. You have to be great at multitasking," she noted.
Hall-Ruff, who is passionate about quality health care, describes her work as exciting. She likes the behind-the-scenes, team-oriented nature of her position. "You utilize skills and assets you didn't even think you had," she said.
Using her biology background, Hall-Ruff serves as a liaison between doctors and donors. She translates scientific jargon into language that makes sense to the layperson.
Lays groundwork
That function lays the groundwork for hospital/donor relationships, something that's become more critical in the present economic climate. "Hospitals used to make a little bit of a profit. That's no longer the case," she noted. Consequently, Hall-Ruff said the pressure on development shops has intensified.
"A lot of our programs, our buildings, procurement of huge pieces of equipment would not happen if it weren't for philanthropy," she said.
In a business that receives more noes than yeses, Hall-Ruff's task is to locate donors. "Where you hear one disappointment, you turn the corner to find something more positive," she said.
That optimism along with her outgoing personality, ability to converse easily with others, knowledge of the medical field and love of working with people attract potential donors to NYUMC. She must then match each donor's interests with the institution's needs and priorities. "It's a fine balancing act. You have to approach these things with sensitivity, responsiveness and integrity," she explained.
The result exemplifies human generosity at its best. Hall-Ruff finds it rewarding to meet very wealthy, powerful people who just want to do good things. "At the end of the day, you realize we all boil down to the same stuff," she said.
Success in procuring donations equals a win-win situation, according to Hall-Ruff. The donor feels good about giving back to the community, and the institution can continue its programs. "That's how you want it to be," she said.
Largest donation
The largest gift Hall-Ruff secured to date is a $15 million grant for the Weill Cornell Medical Center. "It's rewarding to know that at the end of all the work it took to receive a gift, someone's life is going to be affected in a very positive and powerful way," she said.
The associate director describes her work as selling a mission, not a product. "I love the fact that I'm a cheerleader for a prestigious academic medical center and getting other people excited about supporting it. At the end of the day, that's going to translate into better health care for someone, better services, advanced research that might not have gone forward," said Hall-Ruff.
Success for Hall-Ruff comes from achieving her goals, dreams and aspirations, having fun with her job and moving upward in her career. She added: "I have a wonderful husband and a healthy daughter. I see that as perhaps the greatest success."
Hall-Ruff also believes the journey from high school graduation to her present position constitutes a success. "I never imagined I would be living this wonderful life, having this wonderful job," she said.