Charles D.A. Ruffolo - MPA

After Charles D.A. Ruffolo met his Dutch wife, Herma, the American soldier exchanged his hometown of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, for The Netherlands.

He served and retired after 20 years from the military and is a graduate of the United States Army Sergeants Major Academy and served as a Battalion Sergeant Major. He earned his MBA/MPA degree in his free time in the military and fine-tuned his natural talent for linking (networking) common interests. ??These items created the capital for The NetworKing BV. Ruffolo is a Professional Networker, International Speaker, Trainer, Author and Publisher who has spoken in ten countries, presents over 150 times each year and has licensed his NetworKing concept into China, Turkey, Portugal, Spain, Belgium, USA and the Netherlands.  He is an active member of various business clubs and serves on numerous business clubs and boards (Membership Committee American Chamber of Commerce in the Netherlands, President of the Amsterdam American Business Club, Advisory Board/Partner Big Improvement Day and Founder of the Giving Back Foundation).

He has enriched our business environment with his talents as a professional networker. In fact, he has developed networking into a new science and the foundation of a flourishing company. In addition, he provides training courses in his field to groups and companies. Also, thanks to his knowledge of networking, which is one of the oldest professions in the world and to his inspiring enthusiasm, he is in great demand as a guest speaker. Charles Ruffolo has used the power of Internet technology to demonstrate that NetworKing is truly a business of daily necessity by starting The Network Clubs which have thousands of members around the global.

Charles has arranged for the Honorable William Jefferson Clinton, 42nd President of The United States to visit The Netherlands in 2002, 2004 and 2006. Additionally, Charles has successfully worked personally to bring the Dutch Postcode Lottery together with President Clinton’s Foundation which donates 1.5 million euro per year for five years to his Foundation.

He has established and developed the partnership between the Dutch wind energy company, Emergya Wind Technologies (EWT) and the Clinton Global Initiative.  In 2007, he successfully negotiated a Primary Sponsorship of the Annual meeting in New York City on behalf of EWT.  Not only did he succeed in a Sponsorship, but he has also been instrumental in the commitment made and the future partnership between President Clinton and EWT.

In additional to the relationship developed between President Clinton and EWT, he was also successful in bringing together General Wesley K. Clark and EWT into a business working relationship.

Using his personal networking skills he brought Sir Richard Branson (Virgin) and Henk Keilman (RIG Investments) together which has developed into a business relationship focused on sustainability investments.

Another success story is the establishing a business relationship with Stedman Graham who has a splendid career as an international renowned diversity and leadership specialist. Charles worked hand-in-hand with the Netherlands organization The King Foundation/DutchVersity to build a unique partnership with The King Center and Stedman Graham. Additionally, Ruffolo successfully established the Stedman Graham Nyenrode Giving Back Scholarship for a deserving student in the Netherlands.

And recently, Charles succesfully arranged and coordinated for the Government of Aruba former Vice President of the United States of America, Al Gore to headline their ‘Green Aruba’ event.

Based on the foundations of The NetworKing concept, in 2010, Charles started The NetworKing Academy at the Netherlands top business school Nyenrode Business University. This is the first NetworKing Academy of its kind in the world.
In a 2,5 month tailored program, practical business-related Networking topics are discussed with the aim to teach participants professional Networking and leadership skills that they can immediately put into practice. The NetworKing Academy offers its participants a real experience about practical and other current topics, that directly contribute to everyone’s personal Network Plan.

Ruffolo’s philosophy about Networking is that it’s a value system, built on trust, respect, honesty, integrity and making things happen with a lot of enthusiasm. That it’s a ‘give and take’ process with people with whom you have a direct or indirect relationship. Mutual interests support this process and finding the common ground is the key to Networking. Networking enables you to go directly from A to Z and skip the usual path through B to Y.