Who is Pete Ricketts - the Governor of Nebraska: Biography, Career, Life and Family

Pete Ricketts, the 40th governor of Nebraska. Photo: NET Nebraska

Peter Ricketts's Early Life

Ricketts was born in Nebraska City on August 19, 1964, the oldest of four children of Joe Ricketts and Marlene (Volkmer) Ricketts. The family later moved to Omaha. Joe Ricketts founded First Omaha Securities in 1975, one of the first discount stockbrokers in the United States. The company prospered, changing its name to Ameritrade, going public in 1997, and changing its name to TD Ameritrade after acquiring TD Waterhouse in 2006. Marlene was a teacher.

Ricketts and his siblings, Tom, Laura, and Todd, all attended Westside High School in Omaha, from which Ricketts graduated in 1982. He attended the University of Chicago, receiving a BA in biology in 1986 and an MBA in marketing and finance in 1991.

Peter Ricketts's Political Career

After completing graduate school, Ricketts returned to Omaha. He worked for the Union Pacific Railroad for a year, then as a salesman for a Chicago environmental consultant. In 1993, he went to work for his father's business, initially in the call center for a few months, and subsequently appointed by his father to a number of executive positions, ultimately becoming the company's chief operating officer during his father's tenure as CEO. In a 2006 report, he stated that his net worth was between $45 million and $50 million.

In 1997, Ricketts married Susanne Shore. A native of Garden City, Kansas, Shore had grown up in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and earned a bachelor's degree in English and then an MBA from Oklahoma State University. After a stint working for the dean of students at the University of South Dakota, she had come to Omaha in order to complete a one-year course in nursing at Creighton University. At the time of her marriage to Ricketts, she was working as a nurse at St. Joseph's Hospital in Omaha. Ricketts and Shore produced three children: Roscoe, Margot, and Eleanor.

Gov. Pete Ricketts joins ribbon-cutting ceremony at Pioneer Trail Flats. Photo: Platte River Radio

Ricketts left Ameritrade in order to run for the U.S. Senate in 2006. After his defeat by incumbent Ben Nelson, he returned to the company's board, remaining until the Ricketts family relinquished its board seats in 2016.

In 2007, Ricketts co-founded, and became director and president of the Platte Institute for Economic Research, which he described as a "free-market think tank", and which Nebraska newspapers have described as "conservative". He resigned from the organization in 2013 in order to concentrate on his 2014 gubernatorial campaign. From 2007 to 2012, Ricketts was a national committeeman for the Republican National Committee; from 2007 to 2013, he was a trustee of the American Enterprise Institute.

In 2009, the Ricketts family trust bought the Chicago Cubs baseball team from Tribune Media. Ricketts and his siblings occupied four of the five seats on the team's board of directors; as of 2018, the four continued to hold those seats. Due to this, Ricketts has a 2016 World Series title to his credit, as the Cubs won the championship that year (fulfilling a pledge he had made in 2009 during the press conference to announce the family's purchase of the team when he and his brother Tom guaranteed a World Series win for the Cubs under their ownership).

Ricketts is a Roman Catholic. He is a member of the Knights of Columbus and a Knight of the Holy Sepulchre.

Peter Ricketts's Personal Life

Gov. Pete Ricketts' family. Photo: Lincoln Journal Star

Pete Ricketts is the son of Joe Ricketts, founder of the financial firm TD Ameritrade. Pete Ricketts worked for TD Ameritrade from 1993 to 2016. He also started the financial firm Drakon, LLC. Ricketts co-founded the Platte Institute for Economic Research in 2007.

Governor Ricketts and his wife, First Lady Susanne Shore, have been married for 23 years and live in Omaha. They have three children: Roscoe, Margot, and Eleanor.

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