Ron Ridderbusch is leaving Microsoft on Friday after nearly 14 years with the company, and he’s looking forward to taking a short break.
Ridderbusch, Microsoft’s California director for state and local government for the past five-plus years, has been a fixture in the Sacramento scene for three decades.
"I’m going to take a couple months off and hit Ctrl-Alt-Delete. That’s exactly what I am going to do," Ridderbusch
He said he’ll stay in the industry in some capacity, but the time was right for a change with California getting ready to re-bid its state email system. Microsoft won that contract four years ago, and Ridderbusch explained he didn’t want to leave in the middle of the procurement.
Prior to his time at Microsoft and a stint with Accenture’s California practice, Ridderbusch worked for the Legislature for 10 years, first as a legislative staffer and then as CIO for the California State Assembly, where he initiated IT consolidation. Later, Gov. Pete Wilson appointed him project manager for California’s Y2K remediation efforts, which lead to Ridderbusch being named chief deputy CIO of California.
Ridderbusch also has worked in politics, as a state party executive director in Nevada and as Western regional staff for the Republican National Committee. Ridderbusch wrote campaign software that he said changed the way campaigns track and record political data and processes. In 2003, he took a leave of absence from Microsoft to work on Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s transition team.
"I’m not afraid. I really think I will have opportunity and I’m just excited to do something different," Ridderbusch said about his future.
