{"id":32159,"date":"2018-05-03T13:50:16","date_gmt":"2018-05-03T17:50:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/saratogabusinessjournal\/?p=32159"},"modified":"2018-05-04T10:31:38","modified_gmt":"2018-05-04T14:31:38","slug":"u-s-military-academy-grad-builds-career-as-a-trainer-motivational-speaker-and-writer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/saratogabusinessjournal\/2018\/05\/u-s-military-academy-grad-builds-career-as-a-trainer-motivational-speaker-and-writer\/","title":{"rendered":"U.S. Military Academy Grad Builds Career As A Trainer, Motivational Speaker And Writer"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_32160\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-32160\" style=\"width: 870px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-32160\" src=\"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/saratogabusinessjournal\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/48\/2018\/05\/rifenbary-hc.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"870\" height=\"666\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/saratogabusinessjournal\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/48\/2018\/05\/rifenbary-hc.jpg 870w, https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/saratogabusinessjournal\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/48\/2018\/05\/rifenbary-hc-300x230.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/saratogabusinessjournal\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/48\/2018\/05\/rifenbary-hc-768x588.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 870px) 100vw, 870px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-32160\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Jay Rifenbary, president of Rifenbary Development in Saratoga, named \u201cSpeaker of the Year\u201d<br \/>Courtesy Rifenbary Development<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>By Maureen Werther<\/p>\n<p>Jay Rifenbary, president of Rifenbary Development in Saratoga Springs, was recently honored by Vistage Worldwide Inc. with the 2017 Speaker of the Year Award.<\/p>\n<p>According to Vistage, the award \u201crecognizes the MVP of the Vistage speaker community, which includes nearly 1,000 experts on topics ranging from leadership to health and wellness.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Vistage Worldwide is a business advisory and executive coaching organization based out of San Diego.<\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p>Rifenbary graduated from the U.S.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>Military Academy with a Bachelor of Science degree, with a concentration in nuclear physics.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou teach best in life what you want to learn the most,\u201d said Rifenbary.<\/p>\n<p>He lost his father at age 11 and never had a mentor. So by mentoring others and helping them achieve contentment and fulfillment in their professional and personal lives, he feels it<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>is the work he was intended to pursue.<\/p>\n<p>Rifenbary\u2019s life has taken him around the globe, first as an airborne ranger for the military and later as a speaker and trainer. In 1989, Rifenbary, who is originally from Kingston, decided to pursue his life\u2019s work and opened a book store called The Creative Mind in Newton Plaza in Latham.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI did that because I thought I could offer something different to people,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>The store specialized in selling motivational and self-help books and Rifenbary implemented \u201cbrown bag lunches,\u201d noontime programs designed to offer people mentoring.<\/p>\n<p>The store grew, largely through word of mouth and by 1993, Rifenbary sold it and moved to Saratoga Springs with his family.<\/p>\n<p>He began Rifenbary Development and was soon speaking to school groups, professional organizations and businesses throughout the region.<\/p>\n<p>Since then, Rifenbary has authored three books\u2014\u201dNo Excuse!\u201d \u201cTrue to Your Core\u201d and \u201cReturn to Your Core\u2014which he has turned into training and motivational programs for a wide variety of audiences. He has spoken to thousands of people throughout his career.<\/p>\n<p>The books focus on living a more purposeful life, understanding what truly creates happiness and cultivating personal awareness, integrity and responsibility for one\u2019s life.<\/p>\n<p>Rifenbary said he has always been fascinated in understanding what brings true contentment and fulfillment in life and how to best develop one\u2019s character in order to achieve that fulfillment.<\/p>\n<p>He believes that personal honesty, accountability and integrity are secrets to happiness.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf I live by my personal values, then I\u2019m an honorable person,\u201d said Rifenbary, adding that, when people are out of alignment with their core values, they become unhappy and feel \u201cout of sync.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In his corporate training sessions, Rifenbary focuses on what he calls \u201cservant leadership,\u201d which he explained as \u201cfocusing on the people you lead, their personal development, character and growth, rather than on yourself.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He sees core value development as the foundation of culture in the company, family and on the individual level.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis is the foundation for the whole program,\u201d said Rifenbary.<\/p>\n<p>Rifenbary said he feels blessed to be doing this work, although he also admits that it can be emotionally draining at times.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI have people laughing and crying. It\u2019s a very authentic and genuine program. If I lose that, I won\u2019t do it anymore,\u201d he said.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Maureen Werther Jay Rifenbary, president of Rifenbary Development in Saratoga Springs, was recently honored by Vistage Worldwide Inc. with the 2017 Speaker of the Year Award. According to Vistage, the award \u201crecognizes the MVP of the Vistage speaker community, which includes nearly 1,000 experts on topics ranging from leadership to health and wellness.\u201d Vistage [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":196,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-32159","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-education-training-personal-development"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\r\n<title>U.S. Military Academy Grad Builds Career As A Trainer, Motivational Speaker And Writer - Saratoga Business Journal<\/title>\r\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\r\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/saratogabusinessjournal\/2018\/05\/u-s-military-academy-grad-builds-career-as-a-trainer-motivational-speaker-and-writer\/\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"U.S. Military Academy Grad Builds Career As A Trainer, Motivational Speaker And Writer - Saratoga Business Journal\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Maureen Werther Jay Rifenbary, president of Rifenbary Development in Saratoga Springs, was recently honored by Vistage Worldwide Inc. with the 2017 Speaker of the Year Award. According to Vistage, the award \u201crecognizes the MVP of the Vistage speaker community, which includes nearly 1,000 experts on topics ranging from leadership to health and wellness.\u201d Vistage [&hellip;]\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/saratogabusinessjournal\/2018\/05\/u-s-military-academy-grad-builds-career-as-a-trainer-motivational-speaker-and-writer\/\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Saratoga Business Journal\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-05-03T17:50:16+00:00\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2018-05-04T14:31:38+00:00\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/saratogabusinessjournal\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/48\/2018\/05\/rifenbary-hc.jpg\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"jessewinters\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"jessewinters\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\r\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/saratogabusinessjournal\/2018\/05\/u-s-military-academy-grad-builds-career-as-a-trainer-motivational-speaker-and-writer\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/saratogabusinessjournal\/2018\/05\/u-s-military-academy-grad-builds-career-as-a-trainer-motivational-speaker-and-writer\/\",\"name\":\"U.S. Military Academy Grad Builds Career As A Trainer, Motivational Speaker And Writer - 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