Ashley D. Riggin

Miracles at Arkansas Children’s Hospital Provide Fulfillment

One might say Ashley D. Riggin was born for the job of raising money.

As head of fund-raising for Arkansas Children’s Hospital, Riggin has an excellent model to follow: her father, who has been with the National Arthritis Foundation for 35 years and has been its CEO for the past 10 years.

“Everything I learned about tenacity and the work ethic, I learned from him,” Riggin said. The position at Children’s “was like falling into something I had done my whole life. I knew it instinctively.”

Riggin has been in the fund-raising business for eight years herself, including the past year and a half at Children’s. She has met or exceeded the hospital’s goal each year.

She is in a $30 million capital campaign for a new pediatric intensive-care unit, which she says is her greatest challenge to date.

“My goal is to help kids and keep the hospital’s doors open. Just walk the halls of the hospital and see those kids. That makes it all worthwhile. I can’t be a doctor or nurse, but I can use my skills at raising funding to help them,” she said.

Wanting a career that was more than just a job, Riggin said, “I get my satisfaction from the miracles I see in the kids at Children’s Hospital.” Although she is an organized leader who enjoys working with others at resolving issues, Riggin said her greatest strength is her tenacity. “I keep at it,” she said.

She said she is blessed to work with a great team. Her philosophy on managing her staff of 10: Never micro-manage, and allow everyone to have his or her own successes and failures.

Named 1999 Fund-raising Executive of the Year by the Association of Fundraising Professionals Arkansas Chapter, Riggin also was in the Little Rock Regional Chamber of Commerce’s Leadership Class last year and was named to the Arkansas Business “40 Under 40” list of young movers and shakers in the state.

She also is a Reading Renaissance volunteer for the Little Rock School District, a council member of St. Paul United Methodist Church and a Paint Your Heart Out team leader.

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