Chief Leadership Officer, Speaker & Trainer
Rita Webster has a passion for working with women leaders who want to become intentional about increasing their influence, optimizing their performance and developing a supportive network of successful women.
She is committed to bringing talented women together so they can share best practices. She believes that when women gather they build their confidence which leads them to making a bigger difference in their organizations, their families and their communities.
She is a masterful leadership advisor, trainer and coach. She developed the proven WiseLeader development process that has helped hundreds of talented leaders get to their next level and countless teams implement new strategies and drive culture change.
Rita’s passion for leadership development was amplified when her dissertation research identified how high-performing leaders use peer relationships to build confidence and successfully implement new ideas in their organizations. This research created the philosophical foundation for how WiseLeader works with its clients.
Since starting her consulting firm she’s worked with such well-known clients as American Medical Systems, Blue Cross Blue Shield, Boston Scientific, Best Buy, HealthEast, Thomson West, The City of Minneapolis, Honeywell and Xcel Energy.
Rita is an adjunct faculty member at the University of St. Thomas where she designed and teaches the Life Leadership Circles for Women Managers certificate series.
She earned a Ph.D. at the University of Minnesota while doing research in identifying how high-performing leaders use peer relationships to build confidence and successfully implement new ideas in their organizations.
In addition to her work in the leadership field, Rita is a Founding Mother of Awesome Women a nonprofit focused on creating a world in which “every woman’s voice makes a difference.” She was instrumental in co-designing a speaking process which is now the signature process of the organization.
She is an active participant in the Minnesota High Tech Association, a member of the International Coach Federation and a former board member of the Minnesota Organization Development Network.
Rita has a son and daughter who are active in Little League, swimming, wrestling and gymnastics. They share their home with two cats, Kitty and Milo and a guinea pig named Fudge. Rita is an avid gardener and spends her spare time entertaining or walking or biking with friends along the Mississippi River which is near her home in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
