Brigitte Ross as our newest member.  She was inducted on February 15th by membership chair Kian Ameli and her sponsor and President Beri Kasper.  Brigitte grew up in a small town in northern Germany and has a sister who is three years older and still lives in Germany.  After graduating from high school she spent a year in the US (in Potomac, MD) working as an Au-Pair, taking care of 3 kids.  Brigitte says it was a wonderful experience as she was able to explore Washington D.C., travel to New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, the West Coast including Los Angeles, Grand Canyon, Las Vegas, San Francisco, and many other places.

She returned to Germany and went to college in Baden-Baden to study languages and business administration.  Brigitte graduated in 1993 and went to work for WR Grace near Hamburg, Germany as an office administrator in the R&D department for can coatings and lacquers.  As working in Germany did not give her sufficient opportunity to use her language skills she moved to Brussels, Belgium in 1998 and started working for Vetrotech Saint-Gobain a fire rated glass manufacturer.  In 2000 Vetrotech sponsored her to relocate to Seattle, WA to open up their North American sales and manufacturing facility in Auburn, WA.  Within in the first month of being in Seattle she met Jim Ryberg.  He ran his own acoustical ceiling company and was installing the ceilings in her office.  She turned down his to buy her a coffee but did not turn him down a couple of weeks later when he offered to buy lunch.  They have been married for 11 years now.  In 2006 they moved to Brussels where she took a position with the European Government but decided to return to the US in 2009.

Jim and Brigitte have been in the Bay Area since 2012 and own a house in downtown Concord which they continue to renovate bit by bit.  They do not have any children together but he has a 30 year old son and two girls in their twenties.

Welcome, Brigitte!