“... Did I think when I graduated in 1988 with a degree in math and computer science that I’d be running a startup stock exchange? Not even close. So I try to keep my mind open to the opportunities out there and not get too fixed on what I have to do in the next three to five years.” (continued from page 5)
and encouraging him to expand his horizons in programming. For that reason, he also insisted, just as his mother did, that both of his children earn a four-year degree. “I told them I didn’t care what they got their degrees in, just get a fouryear degree,” he said. “I learned a lot about thinking and problem solving and accomplishment during those four years. What you’re doing 10, 20, or 30 years after you graduate likely will be different than what you studied in school, but it’s the way you manage time, accomplish a goal and think that you learn in college.” His daughter is a UCM alumna, and his son is a graduate of the University of Kansas. “It’s been an interesting journey,” Ratterman said. “I’ve always had the ambition to do whatever I do the best that my body and brain will let me. But the challenges always have just shown up. Did I think when I graduated in 1988 with a degree in math and computer science that I’d be running a startup stock exchange? Not even close. So I try to keep my mind open to the opportunities out there and not get too fixed on what I have to do in the next three to five years.”
Joe Ratterman President and CEO of BATS
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Summer 2013 | ucmo.edu/today