When Matt Ritter took a job at Subaru 15 years ago, it wasn’t for the money or title — it was for the chance to start a family.
Ritter and his wife had been undergoing fertility treatments while trying for a child. Many employer health care plans limit the amount they will pay toward fertility treatments, so after Ritter and his wife’s first round of in vitro fertilization, they were paying out of pocket.
“We went through five years of loss at that time, and with fertility treatments and everything else, it was just really hard — and it’s expensive,” said Ritter, who graduated from CSU’s College of Business in 1992 and now serves as vice president of the eastern region for Subaru of America.
He wasn’t looking for a job, but one day, a former coworker called him about a role at Subaru. It was a step down in title and in pay, but after interviewing, Ritter immediately knew he liked the company culture.
“Before I accepted the job as a pay cut, I said, ‘Do you mind if I see your health benefits?’” Ritter said. “Subaru’s a very generous company, especially when it comes to health benefits, and Subaru offers basically no cap on fertility benefits. You can run ’em out your whole life if you want to.”
Enticed by that benefit, in March 2008, he and his wife traded Colorado for New Jersey, a state they had never imagined living in, and he took a pay cut — all so they could try for a baby with the support of an employer’s healthcare plan.
In August 2009, their daughter was born.
While it may have been the benefits that got Ritter in the door at Subaru, he says it’s the company’s culture that has kept him around for 15 years.
“Ultimately, you want to be with a company whose values align with your values, both personally and professionally,” he said.
In the years since he joined Subaru, Ritter has held several leadership positions, including vice president of field and distributor operations and vice president of vehicle planning and logistics. In his current role as vice president of the eastern region, he oversees regional and retailer operations for four zone offices and 192 Subaru retailers from New Jersey to Florida.
He says taking that first job at Subaru was the best career decision – and personal decision – he’s ever made.
“Subaru is everything I had hoped it would be and even more so, especially in terms of culture,” he said. “I think our culture is unmatched in all of business.”
Lessons that shaped Ritter’s career
Early on in his career, Ritter learned an important lesson: He didn’t know what he didn’t know about compensation packages and benefits.
It started when his employer, Enterprise Rent-A-Car, gave him a five-piece set of green, company-branded luggage as a holiday gift.
“I was thrilled to death,” Ritter said. “I’m like, ‘My god, look how generous they are! They gave everybody a five-piece set of luggage — I’ll never buy luggage again!’”
He was so excited about the gift that he mentioned it while catching up with a friend from CSU who was working at Toyota.
“I asked him what he got for Christmas, and he said he got a check. I thought, ‘Huh, well that sounds better than luggage,’” Ritter said. “So, eight months later, I went to work for Toyota.”
Ritter went on to spend more than seven years working for Toyota. He then worked for Porsche and AutoNation before finally landing at Subaru.
“I’ll be the first to admit it: Early in my career, I couldn’t see beyond the end of my nose,” Ritter said. “So for me, it was all about, ‘Well, luggage is great. Oh, wait — there’s something more than just luggage? I can get money, or there’s better health benefits out there, or they’ll pay for our fertility treatments? Let’s go!’”
Growing up in a small town in Ohio and around a family business, Ritter says there was a lot he didn’t know about the corporate world.
“I just didn’t know, but now I know, and I still wouldn’t change any decision I’ve made,” he said.
Ritter’s advice: ‘Follow your muse’
Ritter’s advice for students and young professionals is the same advice he gives his daughter every day: “Be a champion, set the example and take care of others.”
He also encouraged them to pursue what they’re passionate about.
“Follow your muse,” he said. “What inspires you? Try to get involved with what you’re really interested in and what you’re inspired by, knowing full well that that probably will evolve over time.”
Ritter became passionate about the car business because at its core, it’s about relationships, he says.
“The car business is simply, at its most basic form, about people,” he said. “It’s not about selling cars. If you’re good at establishing trust and building relationships, you’re going to succeed in the car business.”
The competitive nature of the industry also means there’s always a new challenge, he said.
“The people and relationships are the foundation, but what I love about this business is that the competition makes sure that you can never rest,” he said. “You always have to be paying attention to what the competition is doing, which makes this exciting.”
Reflecting on his career, Ritter says that his time at the College of Business served as a foundation for his success. In addition to his studies, he was involved in a variety of student organizations, which allowed him to network and build leadership skills.
“I owe everything to CSU. CSU got me to where I am today. It built that foundation for me,” he said. “To this day, when I set foot that campus, it still feels like home, and I can’t think of a bad experience I had on that campus.”
About CSU’s College of Business
The College of Business at Colorado State University is focused on using business to create a better world.
As an AACSB-accredited business school, the College is among the top five percent of business colleges worldwide, providing programs and career support services to more than 2,500 undergraduate and 1,300 graduate students. Faculty help students across our top-ranked on-campus and online programs develop the knowledge, skills and values to navigate a rapidly evolving business world and address global challenges with sustainable business solutions. Our students are known for their creativity, work ethic and resilience—resulting in an undergraduate job offer and placement rate of over 90% within 90 days of graduation.
The College’s highly ranked programs include its Online MBA, which has been ranked the No. 1 program in Colorado by U.S. News and World Report for six years running and achieved No. 16 for employability worldwide from QS Quacquarelli Symonds. The College’s Impact MBA is also ranked by Corporate Knights as a Top 20 “Better World MBA” worldwide.
