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October 15, 2025 26 mins

Ryan Smith is today's guest on the "Leaders Growing Leaders" series of the SUCCESS IS A CHOICE PODCAST NETWORK.

He is currently the President of the University of Rio Grande and Rio Grande CC. Prior to this role, he served as the Speaker of the House in the Ohio Legislature. 

Ryan Smith became President in October 2019 after spending the first 23 years of his career working as a VP and partner with Smith financial advisors. In 2012 he won the election to be State Representative for the 93rd District of Ohio. He served as Finance Chairman, and in 2018, Ryan was elected to serve as the 103rd Speaker of the Ohio House until stepping down from his post in October 2019.

Timestamps of Topics for the Episode ...

  • 1:30 - Non-traditional road to college presidency
  • 2:56 - Running a University and Community College at the same time
  • 5:18 - Definition of success
  • 6:10 - Successful growth of Rio Grande
  • 8:08 - The importance of sports for small colleges
  • 9:45 - Developing leaders
  • 11:32 - How politics prepared him for presidency
  • 14:18 - Parallels to Jim Tressell
  • 16:30 - Handling setbacks, adversity, and challenges
  • 21:00 - Surprising thing(s) about him
  • 22:30 - Caring about people
  • 24:00 - Mistakes leaders make

"The windshield is lot bigger than the rear view mirror." (Ryan Smith quoting Jelly Roll)

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During the "Leaders Growing Leaders" series on the Success is a Choice Podcast Network, Jamy Bechler talks with leaders about how they are growing and developing other leaders. The series tries to examine how various leaders are making the people around them better and building a stronger, healthier culture.

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Please check out our virtual sessions for parents, coaches, students, and administrators at FreeLeadershipWorkshop.com. These sessions are free and cover a variety of topics. 

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Jamy Bechler is the author of 9 books including "The Captain" and "The Bus Trip", host of the "Success is a Choice Podcast", professional speaker, and trains organizations on creating championship cultures. He previously spent 20 years as a college basketball coach and administrator.css-j9qmi7{display:-webkit-box;display:-webkit-flex;display:-ms-flexbox;display:flex;-webkit-flex-direction:row;-ms-flex-direction:row;flex-direction:row;font-weight:700;margin-bottom:1rem;margin-top:2.8rem;width:100%;-webkit-box-pack:start;-ms-flex-pack:start;-webkit-justify-content:start;justify-content:start;padding-left:5rem;}@media only screen and (max-width: 599px){.css-j9qmi7{padding-left:0;-webkit-box-pack:center;-ms-flex-pack:center;-webkit-justify-content:center;justify-content:center;}}.css-j9qmi7 svg{fill:#27292D;}.css-j9qmi7 .eagfbvw0{-webkit-align-items:center;-webkit-box-align:center;-ms-flex-align:center;align-items:center;color:#27292D;}


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