Laura Ricketts was appointed as a member of the President’s Council on Sports, Fitness & Nutrition on March 24, 2023, for a 2-year term.
Ricketts is an entrepreneur, a community advocate, and the Co-owner of the Chicago Cubs Major League Baseball (MLB) Club. She’s on the Cubs Board of Directors and is Chair of the Board of Chicago Cubs Charities, where she leads the organization’s philanthropy, sports-based youth development, and academic programming. She is the first openly LGBTQ woman to co-own an MLB franchise. Ricketts is also Co-founder and Director of Beyond Barriers, an innovative career fitness platform designed to transform professional women into future-ready leaders and help companies unlock potential at scale by improving performance, increasing retention and diversity, and promoting engagement. Prior to her work with the Chicago Cubs and Beyond Barriers, Ricketts co-founded Ecotravel LLC, a digital ecotourism hub dedicated to educating travelers and promoting global ecotourism. She also practiced corporate and securities law at the Chicago law firm Schiff Hardin LLP.
Ricketts’ advocacy work is largely focused on increasing the empowerment, engagement, and representation of the queer and intersectional women’s communities. She is Co-founder and Board Chair of LPAC and serves on the Obama Foundation Inclusion Council as well as the Board of Advisors for Opportunity Education. She’s a past member of the Board of Trustees for the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and has served on the Board of Directors of EMILY’s List, Lambda Legal, and Housing Opportunities for Women. Ricketts earned a Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy from the University of Chicago and a Juris Doctor from the University of Michigan Law School.
