Lumen Christi Institute Board Member and University of Chicago graduate J. Peter “Pete” Ricketts was sworn in as the 40th Governor of Nebraska on January 8, 2015.
 

Born in Nebraska City and raised in Omaha, Ricketts has deep ties to the city of Chicago. In 1982, he attended the University of Chicago where he earned his bachelor’s degree in biology, followed by an MBA in marketing and finance. While living in Chicago, Pete and his brother Tom fell in love with the Chicago Cubs. It probably fueled their passion that they shared an apartment over the “Sports Corner” at Addison and Sheffield, across the street from Wrigley Field.
 

The passion turned out to be a great one. Ricketts currently serves on the board of directors for the Chicago Cubs baseball team.
 

Ricketts is also the former Chief Operating Officer of Ameritrade (based in Omaha, Nebraska)—one of the largest online discount brokerages in the world—and presently serves on the TD Ameritrade Board of Directors.
 

After learning of the work of the Lumen Christi Institute, Ricketts attended the 2012 Economics and Catholic Social Thought Conference titled “Toward a Moral Economy: Policies and Values for the 21st Century.” Reinhard Cardinal Marx—the Archbishop of Munich—gave the opening remarks to the symposium, receiving responses from University of Chicago economists—Nobel Prize-winner Roger Myerson and MacArthur Fellow Kevin Murphy. Ricketts joined the Institute’s Board of Directors in March of 2013.
 

In addition to serving on the board of the Lumen Christi Institute, Ricketts also serves on the Global Advisory Board for the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, is a board member for the Chicago Cubs Charities, a member of the Knights of Columbus, and a Knight of the Holy Sepulchre. Ricketts lives in Omaha with his wife First Lady Susanne Shore and their three children.