Ronnie Planalp

Activist, Artist, Business mentor, Connector, Filmmaker, Foodie, Parent, Public servant, Social entrepreneur, World traveler

Ronnie Planalp’s career has spanned senior roles in investment banking, publishing, internet, recorded music and film, with a significant focus on the international markets. She worked in investment banking immediately following her graduation from college and then business school. While living overseas in Hong Kong, Ronnie began her international media career and spent the next ten years there and in the UK in various business development and strategy roles for companies including Time Warner, Excite Europe, EMI Recorded Music and the Producer’s Alliance for Cinema and Television. She has produced two award winning films, They Came to Play and Shakespeare High. Ronnie is also active as a producer in theater on Broadway and the West End, Ronnie's production credits include the Exit the King, Elling. The Misanthrope, Legally Blonde, Mountaintop, The Old Man and the Old Moon and The Heidi Chronicles. She is also an active investor on Broadway and was a part of the team for The Glass Menagerie, If/Then and Here Lies Love. She recently executive produced two films including a documentary profiling the life of fashion designer Zac Posen, House of Z and was part of the investor team that brought Tina Turner: A Musical to the West End and to Broadway. Tina now plays in three additional countries and has toured the U.S. and the UK. Ronnie has been a leading advisor and fundraiser for SparkRise, a better, faster and easier way for businesses of all sizes to create meaningful consumer engagement while making the world a better place. SparkRise allows businesses the opportunity to create campaigns where they sponsor and contribute to causes that matter to their customers while giving them the tools to collaborate with hard to reach influencer partners. From businesses creating more meaningful engagement and positive branding, to charitable causes enjoying access to new funding sources, SparkRise also delivers to consumers desiring new ways to participate in social good. Also active in politics, In 2006-2007 Ronnie served as Co-Chair of the Committee to elect Kirsten Gillibrand for NY’s 20th congressional district. Gillibrand was appointed as NY State’s junior senator in early 2009 and was a candidate for the Democratic nomination for the President of the United States in 2020. Ronnie continues to serve on her finance committee and is a key surrogate for her in New York. Ronnie was also appointed by President Obama in his second term to serve on the Presidential Advisory Committee on the Arts for the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. Ronnie is a Vice President of the board of Film at Lincoln Center where she chairs the Governance Committee and serves on the Executive Committee. She serves on the Advisory Board to the Tamer Center for Social Enterprise at Columbia Business School and also served on the board for Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts from 2020-2023. Ronnie holds a B.S. in Communications from Boston University and an M.B.A. in Finance and Marketing from Columbia Business School. She was ranked in the top 10 in the U.S.A. in the Women’s A Division of squash racquets between 1990 and 1995 and in the top three in New York City in 1993 and 1994 during which time she won the Metropolitan Championship in New York City in 1993 and 1994. Ronnie lives in New York City and Martha’s Vineyard with her two boys.

The Hoffman Process, meditation, my two boys, art, music, film, racquet sports, yoga, connecting people, making a difference, and politics

if you do what you like that's freedom and if you like what you do that's happiness

Board and Committee Leadership, Board of Directors - Board of Advisors, Business developement, Film producing, Sports - squash, Sports - tennis, Theater Production

My first TED was in 2013 and it changed my life in more ways than i thought possible. each year something of great significance happens in my life at TED and I've learned to pay attention to that! Great ideas, great energy and many friends made that I was lucky to keep. It was inspiring! In 2016 it all came together when I was asked to join the Advisory Council for TedX.

baton twirling and jump rope