Born in 1941 at St. Mary’s Hospital in Nebraska City on the banks of the Missouri River, Joe Ricketts comes from a family with deep American roots. His ancestors migrated from England around 1650, settling in Cecil County, Maryland before successive generations moved west to Iowa and eastern Nebraska, working as farmers and carpenters. His mother’s family immigrated from Germany in the late 1800s, settling in eastern Nebraska as blacksmiths and farmers before losing their farm during the Great Depression.
The son of an independent businessman owning a carpentry shop and a homemaker, Joe was raised in Nebraska City, a small-business hub for the farming community. In a Catholic household shaped by a Republican father and a Democratic mother, he absorbed a strong work ethic. To pay his way through college in Omaha, Joe worked as a janitor and hospital orderly, experiences that instilled early lessons in the value of hard work and self-reliance.
In 1974, with $12,500 Joe co-founded a company that would later become Ameritrade. By lowering costs and embracing technology-driven trading, Joe transformed investing and empowered millions to take control of their financial lives. In 2020, he sold Ameritrade for $26 billion.
Joe’s belief in expanding opportunity emerged from these formative experiences—the stories of his immigrant ancestors losing their farm, parents from different political traditions learning to find common ground, and his own journey from working-class jobs to building a transformative business. He has carried these values forward by supporting new ventures, and through philanthropy focused on education, conservation, and spiritual development.
Since 2008, Joe Ricketts has dedicated his resources and expertise to philanthropic ventures that remove barriers for participation and expand opportunity.
Joe continues to apply his entrepreneurial expertise to ventures that align with his values of transparency, accessibility, and empowerment – bringing that same vision that democratized investing to new challenges.
As a long-time Wyoming resident, Joe is committed to proving that conservation, responsible tourism, and local economic growth can work hand-in-hand.
