Ruth Ann Watkins received her Occupational Therapy degree from the University of Illinois and her MBA from the University of Chicago.  She spent the majority of her professional career at the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago where she rose from staff occupational therapist to Vice President of Allied Health and then Vice President of Marketing and Communications.  In 1991 she founded a company Out & About, Inc. that provided individual outings for seniors.

 

Ms. Watkins has held faculty positions at Northwestern University Medical School, and the University of Illinois at Chicago.  She has been an active member of boards and committees of professional associations and other non-profit organizations.  Ms. Watkins is a member of the Rotary Club of Chicago and is a Trustee and Secretary of the Retirement Research Foundation.  Ms. Watkins and her husband Tom divide their time between their homes in Old Town in Chicago, Illinois and Pompano Beach, Florida.