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By Brent Hoffmann, 2005

“In Ames, my hometown, my mother researched and wrote the application that established many of the houses in our neighborhood as Historic Old Town, one of the first such designations in the state of Iowa,” said Ross Wirth.  “I started giving walking tours while a teenager.  When I visited Chicago for the first time, in high school, the architecture and neighborhoods were the key drivers in my falling in love with the city.  After I moved to Chicago and learned more about CAF, becoming a docent quickly became a goal.  Now I’m a proud member of the class of 2019.  Go Bovines!”  

Ross came to Chicago in 2003, after earning his B.S. in business management information systems at Iowa State University in Ames.  He worked as a management and technology consultant at Accenture, which specializes in technology and consulting services.  “In 2020 I joined CyberCube,” continued Ross.  “It’s an analytics company that empowers our insurance industry clients to quantify their cyber risk.  In short, if you own a business, what is your exposure from cyber risk as opposed to, say, the risk from fire?  I’m the head of client engagement with an eight-person team in Chicago, New York City, Atlanta, and London.  We’re responsible for revenue, relationships, and enablement of our 80-plus clients around the world.” 

 Docent President

Ross is serving his first year as docent council president.  He said, “I’m excited about building the partnership between docents and the CAC organization under Eleanor’s leadership.”  Previously, he was the council’s vice president/treasurer, and class representative for his class of 2019.  He leads the Historic Treasures and Walk Through Time tours and is a member of the tour committee.  He said, “Historic Treasures has a lot of ‘wow’ moments for visitors.  An example is the big ‘reveal’ of the world’s largest Tiffany glass dome at the Chicago Cultural Center, which I first experienced as a guest on the tour years ago.  And Walk Through Time is a unique opportunity for folks to see the evolution of technology, architecture, and the development of Chicago’s built environment over time.  I enjoy the intimacy of small groups and like to focus on stories and vignettes to help them learn about architecture and our built environment.”  In 2021, Ross won a service award for his leadership in building a sense of community among his docent classmates of 2019. 

The Spoon Whisperer

During Covid, Ross started offering cooking classes at home for his colleagues at work.  “It comes naturally; I started cooking as a kid,” he explained.  “I have fond memories of making pasta from scratch with my mom.  In high school I often made family dinners of fried egg noodles or broccoli parmesan spaghetti, and a simple citrus chicken.  I attended a cooking class where I learned to make an English muffin pizza.  And I continue learning from the likes of the Food Network and YouTube.”  

“I’m a food nerd who likes to cook and who likes to eat.  So, I created a free newsletter: TheSpoonWhisperer.com.  I update it with cooking tips, restaurant recommendations, and recipes from cooking events.  I’m a gadget and tools geek, too, always on the lookout for a new tool to solve a problem.  For example, in cooking, I love the precision an immersion circulator provides for cooking to the perfect temperature, or the use of an air-fryer to make chicken wings just as crispy as those fried in oil.

Travel Bug

“I got the travel bug early in my consulting career,” he explained.  “Often, I’ll travel to another city over a weekend rather than return immediately to Chicago when working on out-of-town projects.  After a week in Italy, my partner Lisa and I spent a day in Venice, three days in the Prosecco Hills at a B&B and cooking school – then a few days in Florence and our favorite city, Rome.  We’ve also enjoyed small-ship cruising in the Mediterranean.”

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