Faces of Pitcairn

Ashley Ruhling began her career at Pitcairn over 13 years ago. Her story is a great example of how one’s career path can start in one area of the firm and find its way to make an impact in another area of the firm. Today, Ashley serves as Pitcairn’s Investment Communication Specialist.  

Tell us a little about your journey at Pitcairn and what ultimately drew you to working in Investments?

My Pitcairn journey started on the marketing team. I didn’t have an investment background, but I liked the challenge of learning new things every day and developing new skills. I first began working with investments on building our quarterly investment communication, known as the QIR. Now almost fifty QIRs later, I’ve been a full-time member of the investment team for over 8 years.

What drew me to investments was an attitude of saying yes to new projects and new responsibilities. Pitcairn had just launched our open architecture investment platform in 2008 and I was able to become involved in designing the process that guides how we make investment decisions and building the infrastructure that supports how we communicate the investment experience to our relationship managers and clients. 

What excites you about investments and how does Pitcairn set itself apart from other advisors?

Investments is an always evolving space. The Pitcairn investment team is constantly learning and researching new ideas to ensure our clients are invested in a superior investment program. As a member of the team, I get to travel and meet different managers. I also get to interact with clients and collaborate with many different people across the firm. I need to be analytical, thoughtful, resourceful, and creative. Recently, I’ve had the opportunity to focus on one of our newer initiatives – the impact offering. I look forward to continuing to work on enhancing the impact program in 2020.

What is unique about Pitcairn's culture and work environment?

Pitcairn was my first job out of college and our culture is truly like a big family. Working at Pitcairn is never boring. There is honestly never a dull moment.

What is something your colleagues don’t know about you?

Everyone knows I’m a diehard Villanova basketball fan. What they may not know is that I’m a book nerd. I like reading, particularly biographies, and I am very good at Harry Potter trivia.