About Us

Management Team » Jonathan M. Ruga

Jonathan M. Ruga (age 53): Mr. Ruga, M.B.A., C.P.A., J.D., is the Chief Executive Officer of Sentry and Chairman of its Investment Committee. In addition to his oversight responsibilities, Mr. Ruga leads the company's Apartment Financing Division and co-leads its Equipment Financing Division. Prior to founding Sentry in 1986, Mr. Ruga was the Executive Vice President and General Counsel of a regional equipment finance company based in Salt Lake City, Utah.

Prior to his direct involvement in the financing industry, Mr. Ruga was employed with the prominent Salt Lake City law firm of Parr, Brown, Gee & Loveless (http://www.parrbrown.com/) , where he specialized in the areas of financing and leasing, federal taxation, and general business and corporate law. Prior to his legal career, Mr. Ruga worked for two years with a local public accounting firm, specializing in the management consulting and federal income tax areas.

Mr. Ruga was associated with Amembal & Isom: Lease Education and Consulting for almost twenty years and, for several years, was a member of its Board of Directors. During the course of his association with that company, Mr. Ruga co-authored The Handbook of Leasing: Techniques and Analysis (1982), authored the tax and legal chapters of the Guide to Captive Finance Company Equipment Leasing (1984), and co-authored The Handbook of Equipment Leasing (1988) (updated in 1995). More recently, Mr. Ruga has co-authored two additional books with Amembal & Associates, Operating Leases: The Complete Guide (2000), and International Leasing: The Complete Guide (2000).

Mr. Ruga graduated magna cum laude from the University of Utah College of Business with undergraduate degrees in accounting and finance, and with a Master of Business Administration degree, and obtained a law degree from the University of Utah College of Law, where he was a member of the Utah Law Review and was elected to the Utah Chapter of the Order of the Coif.

Mr. Ruga is currently on the Board of Trustees of four charitable or non-profit organizations: The Boys' and Girls' Clubs of Greater Salt Lake (http://www.bgcgsl.org/, which provides programs to children and teens to help them avoid risky behaviors and to develop job and leadership skills); High Road for Human Rights (http://www.highroadforhumanrights.org/, which focuses on the prevention of genocide, torture, human trafficking, and global warming); the University of Utah College of Law, http://www.law.utah.edu/; and the University of Utah's President's Club (http://togetherwereach.net/presidentsclub, which provides scholarships to deserving students across all of the University's colleges). Mr. Ruga recently completed a 6 year term as a member of the Board of Trustees of Rowland Hall St. Mark's School (http://www.rowlandhall.edu/, a private school located in Salt Lake City with grades from pre-school through 12^th), and remains a member of its Finance Committee. For seven years ending in 2003, Mr. Ruga was on the Board of Trustees (and for one year was President) of The Road Home, (http://www.theroadhome.org/, a charitable organization that focuses on providing housing and related services to the homeless population along Utah's Wasatch Front.

Mr. Ruga received the Alumnus of the Year Award for 2007 from the University of Utah S.J. Quinney College of Law for his commitment to the law school and its students.

Mr. Ruga and his wife, Tina, have three children and reside in Salt Lake City. Mr. Ruga enjoys playing the guitar, playing racquetball, and mountain biking.

Various speeches, interviews, and articles by or about Mr. Ruga can be accessed here.