Ruby Named YDLI Distinguished Alumni Leader
Michele Ruby was chosen the 2016 Young Dairy Leaders Institute (YDLI) Distinguished Alumni Leader by the Holstein Foundation board. Ruby, an alumna of YDLI Class 2, will be recognized at the final phase of YDLI Class 9 in Phoenix, Ariz., in February 2016.
Ruby, from Portland, Ore., owns Ruby-Do Inc., a boutique communications company that helps clients deal with issues and prepare for crises. She is also treasurer of Fir Ridge Holsteins, her family’s 2,500-head Holstein dairy in Scio and Cloverdale, Ore.
She is executive director of Oregon Ag Fest, an annual two-day festival, and has served on the boards of several nonprofit organizations. She was named Communicator of the Year by National Milk Producers Federation in 2000. Ruby worked as director of communications for the Oregon Dairy Products Commission, as communications director for Tillamook County Creamery Association, and as an advertising specialist for World Wide Sires. She holds a bachelor’s degree in dairy science, with a minor in agricultural communications, from California Polytechnic State University.
“There are few decisions in my life that I consider critical to my personal and professional development,” Ruby said in her YDLI application. “One of those was applying for and participating in YDLI Class 2. The training YDLI provided was instrumental in my own desire to serve the dairy industry and my broader community. Even as a communications major in college, I had never received the focused communication training YDLI offered. I learned the importance of telling dairy’s story, while articulating the benefits of dairy, even when dealing with tough issues.”
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