Erin Davison-Rippey

Some say that the most interesting, entertaining, and most absurd theater is on the public policy stage. Erin Davison-Rippey is in the mix.

As a very young person, she found she was able to balance her great appreciation for the music of Nirvana with the repertoire of the very select Des Moines Children’s Chorus. The Choir’s tour to Eastern Europe solidified her interest in music, performance, and helping others. After graduating from Des Moines Roosevelt High School, Erin enrolled in the musical theater program at the University of Tulsa where she spent a couple of years singing, dancing, …and also going to college. After her second year, Erin put aside her dreams of the New York stage with the recognition that long periods as a waitress in Manhattan were problematic.

She left the red clay of Tulsa for the green of Denver, Colorado, where she received her Bachelor of Science in Social Work from Metropolitan State College. While in school, Erin worked in both the school and human services systems. She returned to Des Moines and for five years was a program manager for the Youth Policy Institute of Iowa. In 2009, Ms. Davison-Rippey received her Masters of Public Administration from Drake University and joined SPPG as a Program Manager in 2011.

“I wanted to get more deeply involved in policy, so joining SPPG was a wonderful opportunity. Here, I get to work on so many diverse issues relating to the public and private sectors. I am a person who likes to be involved in many things, and here, every day may be something completely different.”

She is involved in a number of community activities and gets deeply invested in her vegetable garden. And she has put her plaid shirt away for now. While her attention may have shifted, Erin has not lost her love of the theater. She clearly understands that Edward Albee’s The Sandbox, Ibsen’s Hedda Gabbler, Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Oklahoma, or Green Day’s American Idiot all deal with themes and issues found in today’s policy theater. She is delighted.