Terry Rasmussen didn’t set out to run a Fortune 500 company. She began her career as a dental hygienist, paid for law school by cleaning teeth during breaks, and joined Thrivent Financial in 2005 as General Counsel. Today, she leads the $194 billion faith-based financial services firm and believes its values-first model makes it the “best-kept secret” in the industry.
“I grew up on a farm in west-central Minnesota, and I was the middle child—kind of clueless about what I wanted to do,” Rasmussen tells Fortune. “But what I discovered early on was that I love to learn. And that gift has carried me every step of the way.”
