Meet Kellie Rittershausen - Executive Director for the National Lieutenant Governors Association.

[00:00:11] Welcome back to another episode of The Political Life. Today, we have a unique episode. We have a rebroadcast of Maggie Mick hosting Meet the Executive. Today, she is interviewing the new Executive Director of the National Lieutenant Governors Association, Kelly Rittershausen, and she interviews Kelly on a webinar. I believe this was recorded on October 1st.

[00:00:41] And this is a rebroadcast of that webinar. And we hope you enjoy it. And we will see you next week with a regular episode.

[00:00:52] Well, good afternoon and welcome to our today's Meet the Executive webinar. I'm Maggie Mick with Multi-State, and I am so grateful to have Kelly Rittershausen, the new Executive Director for the National Lieutenant Governors Association, join us.

[00:01:11] To introduce herself to those who may not already know her from her time as the Deputy Executive Director, but to learn more about NLGA as the role of the Lieutenant Governor and the ascension of the Lieutenant Governor continues to kind of dominate our state capitals.

[00:01:30] So, I'm going to go through a couple of housekeeping items and then we'll formally introduce today's guest. But this webinar for everyone is being recorded and will be made available to our clients upon request.

[00:01:45] Participants are welcome and encouraged to submit questions for Kelly. We're asking that you do so by putting it into the chat box so that we can see the message and we'll read it out to her.

[00:01:56] We do ask that you identify yourself in your company just so that Kelly has total context when answering your question, but she is more than happy and geared up to answer any questions that you may have about the work of NLGA.

[00:02:10] And full disclosure, this webinar is being rebroadcast as an episode of the Political Life podcast.

[00:02:17] However, we will be editing out the Q&A portion for our clients so that just the conversation that Kelly and I have is shared with that audience.

[00:02:28] So, with that said, welcome, Kelly, and I'll introduce a little bit about you and your background.

[00:02:34] Kelly is the Executive Director of the National Lieutenant Governors Association, where she manages all operations and services in supporting the nation's Lieutenant Governors in seconds in command, which we will go into kind of the definition of her membership in a bit.

[00:02:51] She was appointed as Executive Director in August of 2024, so just a couple of months ago.

[00:02:57] Previously, she served as the Deputy Director for nearly seven years.

[00:03:01] And before joining NLGA, she accumulated seven years of bipartisan experience working with elected officials serving as Chief of Staff to the Hamilton County, Ohio Commission, working with two different commissioners from both the majority and minority parties.

[00:03:17] So, welcome, Kelly.

[00:03:19] And you are sitting in Northern Kentucky.

[00:03:22] So, just share a little bit more about your background working in local government and maybe where you've got the political or service bug, per se.

[00:03:35] Sure.

[00:03:36] And, of course, thanks for having me today.

[00:03:39] I am actually from a rural part of Northern Ohio.

[00:03:43] That's where I grew up.

[00:03:44] But I graduated from Xavier University in Cincinnati and never left Cincinnati.

[00:03:48] So, I am right across the river, like you said, from the NLGA office, which is in Covington, Kentucky.

[00:03:55] It's Northern Kentucky.

[00:03:57] Prior to joining NLGA, I was, like you mentioned, the Chief of Staff for the Hamilton County Board of Commissioners.

[00:04:03] Hamilton County, Ohio is a county of about 800,000 residents and for several years was kind of a purple bellwether county to watch during election time,

[00:04:13] which always kind of piques your interest as a resident.

[00:04:17] But, as you probably know, as many of your clients probably know, working in local government is its own unique challenge.

[00:04:24] I'll say it that way.

[00:04:25] But being Chief of Staff in the majority and the minority in a purple county really kind of forced me to hone my skills and develop a passion for, like, bipartisanship,

[00:04:37] the need for collaboration, and just bringing people together for the common good was kind of required in that role.

[00:04:46] I joined NLGA in 2017.

[00:04:47] I was really excited to join a nonpartisan, bipartisan organization.

[00:04:52] I was the Deputy Director for the last seven years.

[00:04:55] And then, as you mentioned, back in early August, I was appointed by the Executive Committee to serve as Executive Director.

[00:05:04] And point of personal privilege, we were just talking about this before we went live, but NLGA is in northern Kentucky

[00:05:11] because it was once an affiliate of the Council of State Governments, which is located in Lexington.

[00:05:16] And we were talking about the history of when it became its own independent organization, no longer an affiliate, I think, at the beginning of my tenure at CSG.

[00:05:25] But you worked under Julia Brossert, who retired or moved on to a private sector role in late summer.

[00:05:33] And just working for such a powerhouse ED for many years, kind of what was some of the learnings that you took from that strong leader of the organization and just kind of a mentor-mentee relationship?

[00:05:49] Yeah, Julia is definitely a mentor, and I would call her a friend.

[00:05:53] And she was with NLGA for 22 years.

[00:05:56] And what she did growing this organization from, you know, a very small bank account, not a lot of lieutenant governor attendees,

[00:06:05] to, you know, being a $3 million organization now.

[00:06:08] And with the success and the engagement that we have with lieutenant governors, I can't speak highly enough of her as a person.

[00:06:16] And, again, the work that she's done at NLGA really makes my job a little bit easier and a little bit more exciting because she did a lot of the tough stuff growing us.

[00:06:24] And now I kind of get to take the ball and run with it.

[00:06:29] But she's enjoying a little bit quieter, maybe a little bit less stressful role now, so I'm excited for her.

[00:06:36] Less 50-state travel is what we were talking about before.

[00:06:40] So give us – so for any of our clients or audience listeners, NLGA, I think, to your point, has come on the radar more and more and more

[00:06:50] as lieutenant governors have ascended into the governor's role but also taking on just larger profiles and priorities in their respective roles as lieutenant governors.

[00:07:02] Can you just give us a 101 on NLGA, you know, your governance structure, how you meet or convene your members, and some of the priorities of the organization currently?

[00:07:15] Sure.

[00:07:15] So we are, of course, nonpartisan.

[00:07:18] NLGA is the nonpartisan professional association that serves all 55 gubernatorial successors in the states and territories.

[00:07:27] So the one thing, and I will say the only thing that all of NLGA's members have in common is that they are second in line to governor.

[00:07:36] So for most states, of course, that person has the title lieutenant governor.

[00:07:40] In a handful of other states, the successor is the Senate president or the secretary of state.

[00:07:45] But regardless of their title, should the governor no longer be able to serve, you know, by death, resignation, federal appointment,

[00:07:53] any other reason, NLGA's members are who is second in line to governor.

[00:07:58] Beyond the duty of a succession, I kind of often argue half-heartedly, I think the office of lieutenant governors is arguably the most diverse in state government.

[00:08:08] They derive their powers constitutionally, statutorily by the legislature through governor's appointment or executive orders,

[00:08:16] through personal initiative or some combination of all of those things.

[00:08:19] So that looks different in every state and territory, and it looks different from administration to administration.

[00:08:27] However, about half of NLGA's members preside over their state senate.

[00:08:31] Many cast the tie-breaking vote when they preside.

[00:08:35] And so, again, I'm sure many of your clients know how important that can be in certain states and with certain pieces of legislation.

[00:08:41] And then beyond that, lieutenant governors oversee state departments, commissions, initiatives on a very wide array of policy areas,

[00:08:50] depending on their personal background and interest.

[00:08:52] They're often kind of a jack-of-all-trades.

[00:08:54] They bring their personal and professional insights into state government.

[00:08:58] Of course, they have the kind of privilege of the bully pulpit.

[00:09:02] They're often conveners and relationship builders as well.

[00:09:06] So, as you can probably tell, I'm a cheerleader for the office of lieutenant governor.

[00:09:12] And the diversity of the membership keeps my job really fun and interesting every day, but can also be a challenge.

[00:09:20] How do we serve that membership?

[00:09:22] We are a non-

[00:09:23] Diverse membership.

[00:09:25] Yes, a very diverse membership.

[00:09:27] We are a 501c3.

[00:09:28] So, we hold three meetings per year and provide other member services, all under NLGA's mission of improving the efficiency and effectiveness of state government.

[00:09:39] So, really using that office of lieutenant governor to its highest and best ability.

[00:09:44] So, we facilitate peer-to-peer exchanges, speakers, presentations, other sessions at meetings, as well as various other opportunities to improve and promote that office of lieutenant governor.

[00:09:57] Our three meetings per year are focused on sharing best practices, addressing shared challenges across party or geographic lines.

[00:10:07] Governance is a big thing that we cover a lot because of probably what our most important role is, which is to prepare those members to be governor tomorrow should that opportunity arise.

[00:10:18] So, it bears mentioning lieutenant governors become governor at a greater rate than any other elected official.

[00:10:24] At this time, my count is 18 sitting governors are former NLGA members, including three former chairs.

[00:10:32] NLGA itself is governed by three officers and executive committee that is geographically and by-party diverse.

[00:10:41] Our three officers right now are the Michigan lieutenant governor, Garland Gilchrist, is our chair.

[00:10:46] Our chair-elect is the South Carolina lieutenant governor, and our treasurer is the Kentucky lieutenant governor.

[00:10:53] And your policy processes.

[00:10:56] I think you have consensus resolutions.

[00:10:58] Can you take us through kind of their function and the process to adoption by your members?

[00:11:04] Sure.

[00:11:06] So, NLGA members consider and vote on consensus resolutions at all three meetings each year.

[00:11:13] They are really kind of exactly what they sound like.

[00:11:16] They're bipartisan statements of consensus on policies and issues that are important to the states.

[00:11:23] So, we have a pretty stringent criteria for what those resolutions look like.

[00:11:29] But ultimately, they become great tools for educating and putting certain issues in front of the membership for review ahead of voting at meetings.

[00:11:39] So, the process, without getting too far in the weeds, is that members, private sector partners, or staff submit potential resolutions under that criteria to NLGA staff.

[00:11:51] We're empowered to take a look at them and say, do they meet the consensus criteria?

[00:11:56] Are they nonpartisan?

[00:11:59] Do they have little to no fiscal impact?

[00:12:01] Are they – do they call for federal advocacy or congressional advocacy?

[00:12:06] And there's a whole list of criteria.

[00:12:08] And once we get it worked to a place that we think meets that criteria, it goes on the docket and members vote on those at each meeting.

[00:12:17] And how do you choose your meeting locations?

[00:12:20] Is it a member hosting or is it the prerogative of staff making good fiscal decisions?

[00:12:28] Or how do you slate your meetings each year?

[00:12:34] So, every December, with the exception of 2025, will take place in Washington, D.C.

[00:12:40] That gives our members an opportunity to engage.

[00:12:42] We were previously in D.C. in the spring, and that timing wasn't working for us for a lot of reasons.

[00:12:47] So, our December meeting is always in Washington, D.C.

[00:12:50] And then we hold a spring meeting in April and then an annual meeting each summer.

[00:12:55] And both of those meetings are in different locations depending on which lieutenant governor is hosting us.

[00:13:01] And they do commit to do some fundraising and host the meeting and help spotlight their state.

[00:13:08] Our spring business meeting in 2025 will be in Providence, Rhode Island.

[00:13:12] Lieutenant Governor Spina Matos is hosting that.

[00:13:15] Our annual meeting next summer will be in Lake Tahoe, Nevada.

[00:13:19] The Nevada lieutenant governor is hosting that.

[00:13:21] And then we will be in St. Thomas and the Virgin Islands next December for a contract makeup meeting is the best way to put that.

[00:13:31] The asterisk meeting.

[00:13:33] Yes, we're calling it an asterisk meeting.

[00:13:35] That before next year.

[00:13:37] Yeah.

[00:13:38] And then beginning in 2026, we'll go back to that same schedule.

[00:13:41] So, we'll be in different places in the spring and in the summer.

[00:13:44] And then that December meeting will always be in D.C.

[00:13:48] So, going back to kind of your membership, how many lieutenant governors are elected with their governor versus on their own?

[00:13:59] So, a majority of our members are elected with their governor.

[00:14:03] But there is, I'm going to say 17 states.

[00:14:07] It might be 18.

[00:14:08] It's either 17 or 18.

[00:14:10] I think it's 17.

[00:14:11] We're talking about recently.

[00:14:14] We count folks that don't have the title.

[00:14:17] So, by my count, and I hope I'm correct, but we're certainly in the ballpark, 17 lieutenant governors are elected separately in the general election from the governor.

[00:14:28] So, it's not a majority of the membership, but it's a good chunk of the membership that are elected separately.

[00:14:34] So, then, because of the diversity of your membership, do you know how many are currently on the ballot this year and how many we potentially may have in terms of new lieutenant governors in 2025?

[00:14:45] Yes.

[00:14:46] So, 14 states and territories will hold elections for the Office of Second-in-Command in 2024.

[00:14:53] And that includes one or two secretaries of state that are counted because they are our member.

[00:15:01] That is about 25% of NLGA's membership will hold elections this November.

[00:15:08] So, at least nine states are going to elect new lieutenant governors in November.

[00:15:13] We actually had one incumbent lose, and then we have five others that are running to keep their seat.

[00:15:22] So, it's about 25% of NLGA's membership is up for election in November.

[00:15:26] At least nine of those folks are going to be newly elected in November.

[00:15:31] That does include Senate presidents, which, of course, we won't know who that is until after the first of the year.

[00:15:38] We've kind of got an odd situation in Puerto Rico as well.

[00:15:41] They are appointed – the Secretary of State is appointed by the governor.

[00:15:45] It's the only appointed member we have.

[00:15:46] That governor lost in a primary, so I expect we'll have a new member in Puerto Rico sometime next year.

[00:15:54] So, six new faces immediately in November with the understanding that we'll be getting a handful of additional new members after the first of the year.

[00:16:02] And, of course, with the presidential election, that's taken a lot of air out of the room.

[00:16:08] But with the vice president choosing a governor as her running mate, there's kind of more attention than ever being paid to number twos.

[00:16:18] And no matter who wins the White House in November, federal appointments are going to happen.

[00:16:21] A lot of them are going to happen, and they will impact governors and the Office of Lieutenant Governor.

[00:16:27] So, I certainly am fond of saying to my members, look to your left, look to your right.

[00:16:33] It's not only possible, but likely that one or more of your peers are going to be succeeding in the next 18 to 24 months.

[00:16:40] And I would be surprised if it's not many more than one.

[00:16:43] It's so interesting how the ascension of lieutenant governors and governors going to that national stage in the past 10 years.

[00:16:52] And the fact that, you know, everybody always talks about like 26 being the big governor, you know, cycle.

[00:16:59] But you're going to have so much change between 24 and 25 in your membership just because of all those dynamics you were talking about.

[00:17:09] So, as the new executive director, maybe what's one kind of short-term goal for the organization for you?

[00:17:16] And then what's a long-term vision for you and your new role?

[00:17:23] You know, short-term, I think kind of gearing up for the next couple of years.

[00:17:31] Like you just mentioned, 2018 was a huge election year for us.

[00:17:37] 2026 is going to be the same, right?

[00:17:39] That's two terms.

[00:17:40] We'll have members running for governor and, of course, be welcoming new members.

[00:17:44] And, you know, I am just personally looking forward to maybe getting out of a presidential year when the tension's a little bit higher, nonpartisanship's a little harder to find.

[00:17:54] And then really going into 2025 with strong member engagement, engaging these new elects, maybe having a quieter year in 2025, but looking towards 2026 and what that means for NLGA.

[00:18:09] Short-term, I would also mention, you know, I became executive director after serving as deputy director.

[00:18:16] I'm trying to backfill my position right now.

[00:18:18] Yes.

[00:18:20] Really hoping to do that here in the next month or so.

[00:18:23] And then we're calling applicants to this audience.

[00:18:26] They've got to be able to, they've got to be somewhat local to be able to come to the office that is in person.

[00:18:32] But really hoping to fill that with somebody, somebody strong.

[00:18:36] They would generally be the main point of contact for the private sector for the partners program at NLGA, which is what I did as deputy.

[00:18:45] And then we are adding a third full-time member to the team, which will bring our grand total to three full-time staff.

[00:18:52] So we are small but mighty, but I'm looking forward to having a full team right now.

[00:18:57] Or looking forward to having a full team because we are not right now.

[00:19:02] I mentioned our schedule in 2025.

[00:19:04] I think those meetings will be great.

[00:19:07] We have a STEM pillar of work at NLGA that I've helped build over the last few years, and I'm excited to continue to expand that.

[00:19:16] And then beyond that, you know, really just finding unique, inventive, and effective ways to promote the office of lieutenant governor and also serve our members really well as they look towards their future in state government and Congress and wherever that may be.

[00:19:35] So beyond the STEM pillar, are there any other policy areas where you find great consensus among your membership?

[00:19:43] Yes, with the asterisk that it may depend on the day or the week, you ask me.

[00:19:48] They are diverse in what they work on and what they focus on.

[00:19:52] But certainly in a high level, health care is something that many of them work on.

[00:19:58] Education is something, right?

[00:20:00] They're the two biggest parts of any state's budget.

[00:20:02] So, of course, we're talking about that frequently.

[00:20:05] You know, beyond that, I see tourism and branding and economic development, workforce development.

[00:20:17] Those are all things that everyone is talking about and that certainly many lieutenant governors are active in pieces and parts of that.

[00:20:27] You know, some of the less sexy parts of state government, but that are really important.

[00:20:34] Things like environmental concerns, waterways, land use, that kind of thing that's really important to certain states.

[00:20:43] We see that a lot with our members out west.

[00:20:47] You know, I could go on and on.

[00:20:49] Like I said, it depends on the day, on what they're all kind of working on at the same time.

[00:20:53] But I would imagine that a lot of the same issues that your folks are looking at from a legislative perspective, what are they going to be tackling in each session, is often, of course, what our lieutenant governors may be working on.

[00:21:07] And the one follow-up question to the elections question, the six states where you will have new lieutenant governors, can you name those?

[00:21:19] I think so.

[00:21:21] Yeah, I've got it in front of me.

[00:21:23] So, I'll start with the folks.

[00:21:25] We had several lieutenant governors run for governor this year.

[00:21:29] Delaware, Missouri, North Carolina, North Dakota, and there's one other.

[00:21:37] Those, of course, will be new members because the current members are running for governor.

[00:21:41] Here we go.

[00:21:45] Yeah.

[00:21:46] Delaware, Indiana, Missouri, North Carolina, North Dakota.

[00:21:50] Oregon is electing as secretary of state.

[00:21:53] And then in Maine, New Hampshire, and West Virginia, the Senate president is our member.

[00:21:57] They are all going to have new elected leadership for various reasons.

[00:22:01] Those would be new members.

[00:22:04] And I believe that is it.

[00:22:07] Another five incumbents running.

[00:22:09] That's a good note for all of our clients to turn our hair into 2025.

[00:22:15] So, we talked about next year's calendar.

[00:22:18] In terms of your current membership, and, of course, it's definitely changing in a couple of weeks,

[00:22:25] but is there one member that you've worked with in the last year or even as your, when you were the deputy director,

[00:22:33] that just really stands out as someone who not only maybe helped NLGA evolve, but or just personally was inspiring to you?

[00:22:43] You know, somebody who immediately jumps to mind for me would be the New Jersey Lieutenant Governor Sheila Oliver.

[00:22:49] She did, unfortunately, pass in office, but she passed while she was an officer of NLGA.

[00:22:56] And she really, to me, embodied the spirit of civility and bipartisanship.

[00:23:05] She had a very kind of storied legislative career, and she brought so much of that skill set to NLGA.

[00:23:13] She was a mentor to other lieutenant governors.

[00:23:16] She was, to me, the queen of needing not a note, not a script, not anything.

[00:23:21] When she was talking about a topic she was comfortable with, and there were many of them, she was fantastic.

[00:23:30] We were very sorry to lose her, but she's certainly one that comes to mind.

[00:23:35] I think folks, members come to be elected lieutenant governor from a lot of different backgrounds.

[00:23:44] And to me, the members that always seem to shine somewhere like NLGA are those that, again, embrace the who cares about partisan, you know, politics.

[00:23:56] I used to live in your state.

[00:23:58] Your kid went to college with my kid.

[00:24:01] Whatever their kind of common ground are, those are the folks that seem to do the best, as well as those that are willing to help their peers and teach their peers and engage with their peers and show them geographic differences and governing differences and still remain cordial, civil, and even friends.

[00:24:22] Those are the members that I appreciate the most because that's the spirit of what we do.