17c�������

Ron Troast has a quick mind, deep faith, and a jammed calendar. As we conversed about his life, the time flew so quickly that our goodbye would be an apologetic, “I’m sorry that I have another call in one minute, thank you,” with a wish for a great day. The moment captured Troast’s approach to life: full speed and sincere, illustrating the best version of how to live as a (self-described) Type-A personality.

1. How did life get you to 17c�������?

I’m originally from New Jersey. If you don’t know northern New Jersey, it’s not far off from Hudsonville, Michigan in terms of a prominent Dutch heritage and Christian Reformed Church community. My parents’ rule was we could go away to college if we chose a Christian school. If we chose a secular school, we had to live at home. Suffice to say that I visited one Christian college in Pennsylvania, my cousin and I did “Fridays at 17c�������”—and that was the end of my college exploration.

2. What about your career path at that time? Did you have any inklings?

“Career-wise, I’m from a family of entrepreneurs. Both of my grandfathers had businesses. My dad took over my grandfather’s business. I started a car wash business in high school and continued it through college, so it was a natural direction. I had an idea of what I was good at and knew I wanted to be a business major. I briefly considered switching to accounting to avoid taking Spanish but went ahead. Probably the biggest surprise for me was finding out that alongside my passion for business, I loved psychology.” And for Troast, believing that the two could complement each other in some way, he added psych as his minor.

3. How did your 17c������� experience play into the incredible success you’ve built on that dual studies foundation?

“When I was a high school senior, I was voted the most stressed in my class. They made up that title to give to me. I’m a Type A, an Enneagram 1; it’s how I’m wired. 17c������� had given me an academic scholarship, so I had to maintain a certain GPA to keep the scholarship. My first semester was a disaster. I couldn’t get out of my own way, studying day and night, so stressed out that I hated college. Then, I got a D on my first midterm. I was floored. It took talking to that professor to give me some perspective. He asked me questions about what I wanted out of life, what was happening at school, all this “stuff” with my exam right in front of him. All I was thinking was can we just talk about this grade?”

Troast’s professor was helping him understand something much deeper than a
bad test grade. “The personal interest he showed and our big picture discussion were so valuable. He was looking at the facts on the exam but doing so in the context of human connection and life balance. It was an ‘aha’ moment when it hit me. He changed my approach entirely. That meeting also made me take notice of my cousin, who was also my roommate. He was loving the 17c������� experience and was doing well. He was proof that my professor had been right: you could do well in your studies and also enjoy the rest of what 17c������� had to offer socially, personally and in the community. All of that helped me fully engage for the rest of my time, and my GPA increased every year from there on out.”

4. You seem well organized. Was your segue into the workforce as linear as your thinking?

Not quite. I was looking for things I could do on my own, of course, entrepreneurial all the way. I had also gotten into the financial side of things and enjoyed it. So, when I moved back to New Jersey with my new wife, I became a financial planner. Business conditions were not ideal at the time, and I shockingly found that people didn’t want to entrust their life savings to a 22-year-old. So, while it was a good lesson, I quickly relegated finance to a hobby.”

Troast’s 17c������� relationships included a friend in biotech studies that got him thinking. A random phone conversation connected him with someone working for a pharmaceutical firm. She got Troast a meeting with her new regional vice president who was hiring—except that the executive reported to his contact, “I don’t think he has what it takes.” When the contact called Troast, she gave him the bad news, but then expressed that she disagreed and was going to give him a chance.

“No pressure at all,” Troast laughed, “but it motivated me!” A year later, that same vice president would award him Rookie of the Year. Since then, Troast has found his niche in the medical business world, creating and implementing organizational and workplace cultural development, saying, “It’s about knowing your own gifts and callings and applying those to your knowledge base versus just climbing the traditional ladder.”

As Troast and his wife raise their family in the Raleigh-Durham North Carolina community today, he credits his 17c������� experience with not only preparing him academically, but with a deeper integration of knowledge and approach to life. “It’s one thing to be prepared and it’s another to be prepared with reverence for your gifts and callings and letting them work together. Joy is the relative factor.”