Meet United States’s 101 Top Founders in the Travel Space

Ric Elias

Co-Founder & CEO of Red Ventures

Ric attended Boston College and Harvard Business School before beginning his career as part of GE’s Financial Management program. Ric co-founded Red Ventures in 2000, just days before the dot-com bubble burst. The company weathered the storm and by 2007 it was ranked 4th on the Inc. 500 list. In 2009, Elias was a survivor of Flight 1549, an event which drastically changed his life and led to his widely viewed TED Talk “3 things I learned while my plane crashed.” Elias is cited as aspiring to create the “Google of the East Coast” within his company’s culture and facilities. Ric’s leadership style earned him noteworthy recognition in 2011, when he was named an Ernst & Young National Entrepreneur of the Year. His inspirational views on both business and family have been featured on CNN, TED Talks and MSNBC. Ric Elias is the co-founder and CEO of Red Ventures, a portfolio of digital companies headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina. With over 3,000 employees in 10 US cities, Puerto Rico, the UK, and Brazil, Red Ventures’s digital platform spans across many industries, including home services, financial services, health services, education, and entertainment. Through its influential brands, strategic partnerships, and powerful technology platform, Red Ventures connects millions of people to premium content, intuitive digital experiences, and consumer advice to help make life’s most important decisions. Over the last decade, Red Ventures has compounded growth at over 30%. In 2010, General Atlantic made a strategic investment in the company, and in 2015 Silver Lake also joined as a shareholder. Ric has cultivated an award-winning and technology-centric company culture, ranking as one of Charlotte’s “Best Places to Work” for ten years in a row. A native of Puerto Rico, Ric graduated from Boston College and earned his MBA from Harvard Business School. He co-founded Red Ventures in 2000, months before the dot-com bubble burst. The company weathered the storm; by 2007 it was ranked 4th on the Inc. 500 list. Ric’s leadership style has earned him noteworthy recognition; in 2011, he was named an Ernst & Young National Entrepreneur of the Year, and in 2016 he was inducted into the Carolinas Entrepreneur Hall of Fame. In 2009, Ric survived Flight 1549, also known as the “Miracle on the Hudson,” an event which changed his life and led to his widely viewed TED Talk “3 Things I Learned While My Plane Crashed.” In 2019, he launched a podcast, “3 Things with Ric Elias,” where he shares conversations and insights with top business leaders, athletes, and remarkable guests. In addition to being deeply committed to his family and Red Ventures, Ric is passionate about creating economic mobility opportunities for underserved groups who have the motivation and work ethic to succeed. In 2013, he founded and funded what is now Road to Hire, a 501(c)(3) that connects young adults with on-ramps to professional development and high-earning careers. Programs provided through the Road to Hire platform include career-readiness classes in Charlotte Mecklenberg Title 1 high schools, digital marketing courses at Johnson C. Smith University, on-the-job training and placement with top employers in Charlotte , and scholarships for high-performing undocumented students seeking college degrees. Additionally, in 2018 Ric launched Forward787, a $100M social enterprise committed to building digital businesses based in Puerto Rico. To date, the program has trained and supported more than 100 Puerto Rican professionals, fueling a new economic growth engine on the island.

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About Red Ventures: A portfolio of influential brands, digital platforms, and strategic partnerships that help people make life’s most important decisions.

• Website
• Crunchbase
• Linkedin